The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which form the military arm of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), announced the execution of a “qualitative” operation against the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army forces.
According to what was published by the SDF Media Center today, Saturday, July 20, the operation took place last Wednesday in the village of Khirbet Sha’eer in the Zarkan subdistrict, in al-Hasakah, resulting in the death of three elements and the injury of two others from the National Army.
The center also posted a video recording said to be of the operation, showing five people directly targeted by a shell.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense in the Syrian Interim Government (SIG) said that the Third Legion (Al-Jabha Al-Shamiya) of the National Army repelled an infiltration attempt by a group of Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) on the Harbal axis, south of Marea, north of Aleppo, after midnight last night.
Intense clashes ensued with medium and heavy weapons, resulting in deaths and injuries among the “enemy” and the destruction of a military vehicle after targeting their reinforcement with mortar shells, according to a statement from the ministry.
Mahmoud Horani, a researcher at the Jusoor Center for Studies, told Enab Baladi earlier that these operations fall within the scope of “guerrilla warfare,” which includes raids, ambushes, and sniping.
Many local parties in Syria resort to these operations against each other for several reasons, including political ones related to agreements between intervening regional and international powers responsible for stabilizing frontlines across Syrian geography and the local forces supported by the former.
The researcher added that the agreements of the regional powers aim to stabilize control and influence areas for the local forces. Therefore, the operations carried out by the SDF in the region, or by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in western Syria, are attempts to impact the adversary or a form of attrition.
This type of swift operation has several objectives for the attacking party, primarily the absence of a desire by the attacking party to control new areas and bear the burden of defending them, as it seeks to conduct a sudden operation that inflicts losses on the adversary.
The absence of a desire to control a new area and prepare it as a base for new operations could also be a reason for adopting this type of military tactic, as it does not result in significant human and military losses.