| Northern Aleppo clashes (October 2022) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theinter-rebel conflict during theSyrian civil war | ||||||||||
.svg) Map of HTS's advance in Afrin | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||||
 Sham Legion[3] |  Turkey Hayat Thaeroon for Liberation | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
 28 killed[7] 1 killed[8]Total: 29 | Unknown | 19 killed[7][9] | ||||||||
| 10 civilians killed[10] | ||||||||||
Clashes occurred between theLevant Front and theHamza Division, two factions of theTurkish-backedSyrian National Army, across theTurkish-occupied areas of theAleppo Governorate on 10 October 2022, as part of the on-goingcivil war inSyria. On 12 October, theSunni Islamist groupHay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) joined the fighting on the side of the Hamza Division, entering theAfrin region.
Clashes broke out betweenAhrar al-Sham Eastern Sector and theThird Legion, which it had defected from, in June 2022.[11]
On 7 October, gunmen shot and killed media activist Muhammad Abdul Latif, also known as Abu Ghannoum, and his wife in the city ofal-Bab. TheThird Legion, led by the Levant Front, found on 10 October that a group of Hamza Division fighters was responsible for the killing, sparking the clashes.[2]
The Third Legion launched an attack on the Hamza Division on the evening of 10 October, expelling the Hamza Division from al-Bab and capturing the group's headquarters on the outskirts of the city. The next day, additional groups joined the fighting, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and theSultan Suleiman Shah Division (al-Amshat) on the side of the Hamza Division,[2] and theLiberation and Construction Movement[1] and remnants of theNour al-Din al-Zenki Movement on the side of the Third Legion. TheSham Legion opened the road between Afrin and theIdlib Governorate, allowing HTS to enter Afrin, taking control ofJindires on 12 October and enteringAfrin city itself on 13 October.[3] The Levant Front withdrew from Afrin towardsAzaz.[12] The Liberation and Construction Movement handed over their areas to HTS in exchange for safe passage.[13]
Also on 13 October, HTS captured the villages of Sennarah, Anqalah and Marwaniyah in Sheikh Hadeed in the Afrin countryside and attacked the village of Kafr Jannah, but were beaten back by fighters of the Levant Front. Five HTS fighters were killed in the attack.[14] Furthermore, a fighter of Ahrar al-Sham was killed in clashes withJaysh al-Islam in Susyan town in Al-Bab countryside.[8]
On 17 October, the temporary truce between HTS and the Third Legion broke down and heavy clashes resumed near both Afrin and Azaz, where HTS managed to capture more ground.[15] On the same day, a fighter of the Levant Front was killed and another was injured in clashes with HTS fighters near the village of Al-Khalidiyah, nearSharran in the Afrin countryside.[16] By 18 October, at least 58 people had been killed in the clashes.[17]
Turkey deployed its armed forces to the area on 18 October.[18]Hayat Thaeroon for Liberation stopped the infighting by separating HTS and the Third Legion fighters.[19]
On 19 October the clashes ended as both sides reached a ceasefire agreement.[20]
Protests and demonstrations were held across multiple opposition controlled towns in northern Syria, includingMare',Al-Bab,Azaz andKaljibrin, against the entry of HTS to the region.[21]
