afrinpost – Special
The armed IDPs, merchants and owners of warehouses and shops in the city of Afrin began emptying warehouses, transporting goods and fleeing towards the city of Azaz, amid a state of anticipation, fear and cautious calm among the city’s residents, following the arrival of convoys of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham to the outskirts of the occupied city of Afrin.
Our sources confirmed the lack of spread of the Turkish militants in the streets and the evacuation of the governor’s headquarters in the Serail building in the center of the city of Afrin.
The sources added that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham convoys are waiting at the Mazot Square between the villages of Trendeh and Kurzehel – near the southern barrier of Afrin city, as well as on the entire Jindires road from the Afrin-Andariyeh entrance barrier, without its members being exposed to civilians so far.
Large military columns, including hundreds of four-wheel drive vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns and tanks belonging to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, arrived on Sunday night to the occupied Afrin region, coming from Jabal al-Zawiya, south of Idlib. They began to enter successively through the Al-Ghazawiya and Deir Ballut crossings, connecting the areas of influence of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham and the “National Army” militias in Afrin.
According to our reporter in Afrin, HTS members raised the banners of the “Ahrar al-Sham Movement” militia when they entered from the al-Ghazawiya crossing with shooting in the air, which caused panic and fear among the residents of the village of al-Ghazawiya, who were forced to hide in the basements and turn off the lights for fear of any clashes that might take place within the village.
HTS deployed towards the villages of Burj Abdalo, Al-Basouta, Ain Dara, Kurzeleh, Basofan and Ba’iyah in Sherawa district, without any significant resistance, until this morning when skirmishes broke out with the “al-Jabha al-Shamiya” militia and in the village of Kurzeleh, killing, wounding and captives on both sides.
The movements of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and the “Ahrar al-Sham” militia came against the background of the “al-Jabha al-Shamiya” militia attacking the headquarters of the “Ahrar al-Sham Movement” militia in the town of Ulan, which is the main headquarters of the “Ahrar al-Sham” militia, and the villages of Abla and Tal Battal, where a Kurdish majority reside in the countryside of al-Bab East Aleppo. This has led to “al-Jabha al-Shamiya” militia taking control of these villages after the capture of the leader “Abu Dujana al-Kurdi” and the flight of the rest of the groups to the city of Jarabulus in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.
The intense clashes between the two parties led to the killing of 3 civilians, including a child, and the wounding of 15 others, in addition to the killing and wounding of more than 20 militia members and the captivation of dozens.
