(Zaman Al Wasl)- Three people were killed Thursday in mortar round on the village of Tal al-Ward in northern Syria as fierce clashes reported between regime forces and Turkish-backed Syrian National Army.
Asayish, the domestic security in Kurdish-held areas, said two men and waman lost their lives due to the SNA mortar fire.
Also, an attack by motorbike-borne IED left five people wounded in al-Salihiya neighborhood of Hasaka city, Asayish added.
Heavy fighting between regime army troops and the SNA erupted near Ras al-Ain as Turkish-backed forces seized villages surrounding the border town, according to Al Jaeera.
The SNA said there were intermittent clashes between the two militaries in recent days south of the town, which Turkey seized from Kurdish-led forces earlier this month.
The Turkish-backed forces launched an offensive and took over areas previously under control of Kurdish fighters south of Ras al-Ain, he said.
As fighting intensified, regime troops deployed reinforcements from Derbasiyah to Tal Tamr.
"The SNA took over western parts of the town. People have had enough each time someone controls the area and ends up being worse than the previous armed group," one Tal Tamr resident told Al Jazeera.
On Thursday, American forces patrolled part of Syria's border with Turkey in the first such move since Washington withdrew troops from the area earlier this month, news reports said.
Five armoured vehicles bearing US flags patrolled a strip of the frontier north of the town of Qahtaniyah, an area they used to operate in before the United States announced its pullout.
Meanwhile, at least eight people were killed on Thursday when a car bomb exploded in a busy market in the northwest Syrian city of Afrin, under control of Turkey-backed rebel groups, witnesses said. The blast also wounded at least 30 people.
The Turkish military helped by its Syrian rebel allies seized Afrin, a mainly Kurdish city, from the Kurdish YPG militia in March 2018 in a major offensive. Turkish forces have since carved out a buffer zone inside northern Syria that extends along most of the countries' border.
Videos posted on social media showed extensive damage to the market area with fires burning.
Similar car blasts frequently hit crowded civilian areas in the mainly Arab-populated towns near the border with Turkey under the control of Turkish-backed forces.
Residents and rebels in the rebel-held northwest blame the YPG for the attacks. The Kurdish-led forces say they are engaged in a guerrilla campaign against Turkish forces but deny they target civilians.(Zaman Al Wasl, Al Jazeera)
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