In the morning of July 4, heavy clashes erupted in northern Aleppo between the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and Kurdish forces on one side and the Turkish-backed National Syrian Army (NSA) on the other.
Sources close to the NSA claimed that the clashes erupted when Turkish-backed militants foiled an infiltration attempt near the town of Hazwan by fighters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). However, these claims have not been confirmed, yet.
A day earlier, similar clashes took place in the same region. The NSA acknowledged that two of its fighters were killed by the SAA and Kurdish forces.
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The SAA and Kurdish forces jointly control a large region between the area of Afrin and the eastern countryside of the city of al-Bab. Some Russian units are also deployed in key positions there.
In the last two months, the northern Aleppo countryside witnessed increasing tension between all sides as a result of the repeated Kurdish attacks in Afrin and the SAA’s ground operations around Idlib.
