2022 Ahrar al-Sham–Levant Front clashes

2022 Ahrar al-Sham–Levant Front clashes
Part of the inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian civil war
Date 18–20 June 2022[2][1] (2 days) Location Aleppo Governorate, Turkish-occupied northern Syria Result Status quo ante bellum Territorial changes Levant Front captures Tel Battel and Abla from Ahrar al-Sham, then withdraws to their outskirts[5] Ahrar al-Sham and Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) capture Basouta, Jindires, al-Muhammadiya, al-Ghazawiya and its crossing, Qarzihil, and Ain Dara from Levant Front and Sham Legion[6] HTS withdraws from Ain Dara park and Qarzihil[6] HTS withdraws from all recently captured settlements after Turkish negotiations[7]
Belligerents
Ahrar al-Sham 32nd Division[1] Hayat Tahrir al-Sham	Third Legion[1][2] Levant Front Jaysh al-Islam[3] Sham Legion[4]
Casualties and losses
4-5 fighters killed[1] Dozens of fighters wounded[1] 4 civilians killed[8][3] 11 civilians injured[8] Total: 8-9 killed, 11+ wounded

Clashes took place between Ahrar al-Sham and the Levant Front, two factions of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, across the Turkish-occupied areas of the Aleppo Governorate in June 2022, as part of the on-going civil war in Syria. Ahrar al-Sham was supported by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from the latter's territories in the Idlib Governorate, while the Sham Legion and Jaysh al-Islam backed the Levant Front.

Clashes

The purported casus belli was the defection of the 32nd Division, part of Ahrar al-Sham's eastern branch, from the Levant Front-dominated Third Legion of the SNA. Following this defection, the Levant Front, including reinforcements of tanks and artillery from Azaz city,^[1] attacked Ahrar al-Sham positions in the al-Bab District countryside on 18 June,^[1] besieging the Ahrar al-Sham-held Kurdish-majority villages of Tel Battel and Abla before proceeding to storm and capture Ahrar al-Sham's headquarters in the villages. The two fighting factions then withdrew to the outskirts of the villages.^[5] At least one Ahrar al-Sham fighter was killed,^[9] and four civilians, including two children, were killed, and 11 civilians wounded during the clashes in the al-Bab countryside, which had spread to the villages of Sousian, al-Hadath,^[8] Alwan, and Sheikh Alwan.^[1]

In response to the clashes, the Sham Legion and the Syrian National Army closed the al-Ghazawiya and Deir Ballut crossings which link the SNA and HTS areas of control between Afrin District and the Idlib Governorate.^[10] However, HTS then captured the al-Ghazawiya crossing after the Sham Legion withdrew. The HTS and Ahrar al-Sham convoy, consisting of technicals with heavy machine guns, artillery, and armoured personnel carriers, advanced north into the Jindires and Afrin subdistricts, capturing Jindires and the villages of Basouta, al-Muhammadiya, al-Ghazawiya, Qarzihil, and Ain Dara. Qarzihil saw the heaviest fighting.^[5]

Turkey then brokered a ceasefire between the fighting factions.^[3] The agreement stipulated that the HTS convoy withdraw from the areas it captured in Afrin, and the return of Ahrar al-Sham's headquarters in al-Bab. All HTS fighters left Qarzihil village and Ain Dara park and regrouped in Basouta and Deir Ballut, near Darat Izza.^[6] Despite the truce, Ahrar al-Sham attacked Levant Front bases in Tel Battel.^[11] By the morning of 19 June, fighting had ceased in all of the areas with the exception of Sousian village in al-Bab.^[2]

Aftermath

References