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On April 20, heavy clashes broke out in the northern Aleppo countryside between the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the so-called Syrian National Army (SNA), which is backed by Turkey.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the clashes took place in the village of Tadif. The small village is located right to the south of al-Bab town, the main stronghold of the Turkish military and its proxies in Syria’s northern region.
During the clashes, the SAA targeted several positions of the SNA in the outskirts of Tadif with heavy machine guns and mortars.
The London-based monitoring group said that a militant of the al-Shamiyah Front, a key faction of the SNA, was fatally wounded in the clashes. The militant succumbed to his wound on April 21. Three civilians were also wounded during the exchange of fire.
The situation on al-Bab-Tadif front has been very much stable for around six years thanks to a Russian-Turkish de-escalation agreement.
The rare clashes came amid Russian efforts to restore ties between Ankara and Damascus. In December, the defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of the two counties met in Moscow. The breakthrough meeting was followed by another in the Russian capital between the deputy foreign ministers earlier this month. A third round of talks between the foreign ministers will reportedly be held soon.
The SNA likely provoked the clashes in Tadif in an attempt to sabotage the Turkish-Syrian normalization process. Terrorist groups and Turkish-backed factions in the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib have been launching attacks against the SAA for the last few months to hinder the process.
Ankara may be losing control over its proxies in Syria, or using them to mount more pressure on Damascus before the next meeting.
A full Turkish withdrawal from the country is the main demand by Damascus to restore relations. Ankara does not appear to be ready to go on with such a move.