Syrian government troops attack Kurdish forces in Qamishlo

Members of the pro-Assad regime militia known as the National Defense Forces (NDF) attacked a checkpoint of the Kurdish-led security forces (Asayish) in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishlo. One militiaman was killed, one source said.

The checkpoint is located in Qamishlo’s Hilko neighborhood.

“Today, tensions between the Regime and the forces of the Autonomous Administration increased as fighting broke out between Difaa Al Watani (NDF), a mercenary group with links to the Assad regime, and the internal security forces (also known as Asayish),” Charles Flynn, a Syria-based researcher at the Rojava Information Centre (RIC), told Kurdistan 24 on Saturday.

“So far, it’s been confirmed one of the mercenaries was killed, and others were injured,” Flynn added. “This is not an isolated incident as the past months have been marked by frequent clashes.”

According to Mohammad Ibrahim, a local researcher and analyst focuses on northeast Syria, it’s been nearly a month that tensions remain in place between the Asayish and the pro-regime NDF forces.

“Tension extended to other areas where both forces exist; such as Hasakah and Aleppo cites. The main tension began in Ain Issa, when Russia and regime asked SDF to leave, and avoid Turkish operation, a demand the SDF openly rejected,” he added.

Turkish-backed groups have shelled and attacked Syria’s Ain Issa areas for several months now despite calls by both the US and Russia to stop the fighting and adhere to separate ceasefire agreements the US and Russia made with Turkey after Turkey’s October 2019 attack on northern Syria.

According to a report of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Russia has attempted to solve the dispute between the Syrian regime and the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (AANES).

However, Russian attempts have so far failed.

As a result, the Asayish have imposed a blockade on regime positions al-Hasakah and Qamishlo cities, while the regime has encircled Kurdish forces in northern Aleppo and in the Kurdish neighborhoods of al-Ashrafiyyah and Sheikh Maqsoud in the city of Aleppo.

SOHR claimed that some families living near areas of the regime in al-Hasakah and Qamishlo started to leave the area, fearing more clashes.

The Asayish allows civilians to leave regime security zones on foot.