Syria: Five pro-Turkish fighters killed in clashes with Kurdish militants

Five fighters from the Turkish-backed "Syrian National Army" (SNA) were killed in clashes with Kurdish militant groups in northern Syria on Saturday.

Fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) – the main component of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – reportedly tried to infiltrate the villages of Hraibil, Marea, Maarat Umm Hawsh and Kaljibrin in the north of Syria's Aleppo province, local sources said according to the Turkish Anadolu News Agency.

The militants were confronted by Turkish-backed SNA fighters, leading to clashes where heavy weapons were used.

Five soldiers died while six others were wounded in Marea and Kaljibrin, and the YPG militants also reportedly suffered "heavy losses," Anadolu quoted sources as saying.

Large parts of northern Syria have been controlled by the Turkish military and its Syrian rebel allies since two separate offensives in the Aleppo province in 2016 and 2018. 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has refused to re-establish ties with Ankara if Turkish forces do not pull out of northern Syria.

The Kurdish-led SDF controls most territory east of the Euphrates River while Turkey and its allied groups control areas along the Turkish-Syrian border. Turkey intervened in Syria in 2018 and 2019 against Syrian Kurdish groups, seizing control of border areas. 

Most of the rest of Syria is now controlled by the Assad regime.

The 12-year war in Syria is believed to have killed anywhere between half a million and one million people. It has displaced millions more and wrecked much of Syria’s infrastructure and economy