Nearly ten members of an SLA rebel faction die in a Syrian attack in Aleppo

June 30. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Around ten members of a faction of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) died on Wednesday in an attack carried out by the Syrian Armed Forces in the town of Sheikh Aqueil, in the province of Aleppo (north).

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has noted on its website that a total of nine members of Failaq al Sham have died in the attack, executed by a missile, while adding that the group maintains ties with the Turkish Intelligence services. .

The agency, based in London and informants in the Arab country, has indicated that the missile was fired from an area southeast of Afrin controlled by Kurdish forces and with the presence of government troops, without Damascus having ruled on the matter.

On the other hand, the Observatory has also stated that two civilians were killed by artillery fire executed by the Turkish forces deployed in the ‘Euphrates Shield’ area against the surroundings of the town of Arab Hasan, also in Aleppo province.

In 2016, Turkey launched “Operation Euphrates Shield” against the YPG with the support of the ELS, a coalition of rebel groups that Ankara supports in the framework of the war in Syria. Subsequently, they launched offensive paths in 2017 and 2019, while recently Ankara has threatened new incursions.

The Turkish government considers the YPG to be the Syrian branch of the armed group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with a presence in Turkey. The YPG are in turn the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), key in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.