37 killed in fighting between Turkish-backed and Kurdish-led factions in Syria as Israel detains journalists

Thirty-seven people were killed early on Thursday in fighting between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) near the city of Manbij in northern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor reported, as invading Israeli forces detained journalists in southern Syria.

SOHR reported that the SNA had used heavy weapons and was backed by Turkish air cover and was attempting to take control of strategic points around the Tishrin Dam and the nearby Qura Quzaq bridge.

SNA factions previously announced that they had taken control of the Tishrin dam but the SDF denies this.

SOHR reported that of the 37 casualties, 26 were fighters from the SNA while six were SDF fighters. The remaining five were civilians killed in the bombing which targeted an area near the dam and the town of Serrin.

The fighting came one day after SDF leader Mazloum Abdi said that Kurdish leaders had recently had a “positive” meeting with new Syrian authorities in Damascus, and did not seek to break away from Syria.

"We agree that we are for the unity and integrity of Syrian territory and reject any division projects that threaten the country's unity," he said in a written statement to the AFP news agency.

The SDF and the associated Autonomous Administration of Northeastern Syria (AANES) control most of northeastern Syria, but they are not recognised by the Syrian authorities or by Syria’s neighbour Turkey, which has led several military operations against the SDF.

Turkey considers the Kurdish factions which lead the SDF to be “terrorist” groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought against the Turkish state since the 1980s.

Turkish officials are planning to tell US Under-Secretary of State John Bass on Thursday that Syria needs to be rid of “terrorist” groups, amid signs from Turkey that it is planning to mount a new operation against the SDF, AFP reported.

Israeli arrests in southern Syria

In southwestern Syria, Israeli forces detained a Syrian lawyer and a French journalist in Quneitra province, as well as a team of journalists from the Jumhuriya.net news website, confiscating cameras and other equipment, The New Arab’s affiliate Syria TV reported.

The lawyer was identified as Mohammed Fayyad, a local resident, while the French journalist was named Sylvain Mercadier.

Mercadier had recently written an article for The New Arab about Israeli attacks in Quneitra and its attacks on the local population. He was later released.

Jumhuriya.net said however that its journalists were still detained by Israel, despite clearly wearing vests indicating their status as members of the press.

Following the rebel overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8 last year, Israel, which has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967, invaded a UN-patrolled buffer zone in southwestern Syria, taking over the Syrian side of Mount Hermon as well as a number of Syrian towns and villages.

Earlier this month, it took over the Mantara dam, a key source of water supplying southern Syria. The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed described this as a "direct threat to Syrian water security".

Ali Abu Hussein, an activist from Quneitra told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the dam provides water to the west of Daraa province and was essential to local agriculture.