An attack by the Turkish military and Turkish-backed rebel factions in the Afrin countryside north of Aleppo claimed the lives of two Kurdish fighters on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Turkey frequently attacks Kurdish-controlled areas close to Afrin, which is controlled by Turkey and its affiliated Islamist rebel factions.
The last time Kurdish fighters and Ankara-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) factions exchanged fire was in the same area in January.
The Kurdish Afrin Liberation Forces on Sunday confirmed reports of the deaths of two of its fighters.
Turkey sees Kurdish fighters in northern Syria as groups affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and a national security threat.
Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch together with SNA factions and took control of Kurdish-populated Afrin in 2018. Turkey’s Afrin offensive displaced nearly 300,000 Kurdish inhabitants who since then have been taking refuge in the countryside north of Aleppo, locally known as the Shahba region.
