Northern Syria: Turkish Army Keeps Force on Alert after Assassination of Allied Terrorist Commander

The sources said that Ahmad Mastu nom de guerre Abu Aslan, a field commander of Turkey-backed al-Shamiyeh Front, was assassinated by unknown attackers in the village of Hasi in Mabata area in Afrin region on Friday.

The sources went on to say that Mastu was the military training commander of al-Shmiyeh Front, adding that Mastu’s assassination started a fresh wave of tension among Ankara-backed militants.

The sources further said that a large number of the Turkish Army’s intelligence forces entered Jandaris and Rajou region and Ankara-backed militants have stayed on alert following Mastu’s assassination, adding that the Turkish forces have started arrests in the region.

The Kurdish-language Hawar news reported last week that as sum of 3,295 civilians were captured by the Ankara forces in Afrin region in May amid growing unrests and spreading insecurity following occupation of Afrin region by the Turkish troops.

Hawar news went on to say that the Ankara forces were blackmailing and torturing the captured people, adding that the Turkish troops and their allied militants turned a school in the village of Hikjeh in Shih region into a large detention center to jail the captured civilians.

Hawar news further said that the Turkish army accommodated over 1,200 terrorists of Southern Damascus and Northern Homs in Afrin.

The Ankara forces looted fruits and crops of over 50 hectares of farms in Afrin and cut over 500 olive trees.