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SDF: Over 100 fighters leave Turkish- backed forces, join SDF by Wladimir van Wilgenburg - 19/11/2017 17:26

MANBIJ – 150 fighters from Deir ar-Zour who were fighting with the Turkish-backed Euphrates Shield group, officially split from the Turkish-backed rebels, denouncing Turkish ambitions in northern . The news comes following the alleged defection of Talal Silo, the official SDF spokesperson, who left for on Wednesday. In a statement read by Abu Saif al-Diri, who fought with Euphrates Shield, it was stated that 150 fighters joined the SDF. “We, the sons of Deir al-Zor, have joined the Euphrates Shield in order to liberate our country from the horror of terrorism, have been misled and promised to liberate our region,” he said. “Turkey has had colonial goals and ambitions through its support for Euphrates Shield, and we discovered this too late. But we have seen that the SDF are the only force fighting terrorism in Syria,” he said. “Therefore we now announce our defection from the Euphrates Shield and join the ,” he added. Turkey and it’s proxy forces in August 2016 launched the operation Euphrates Shield and captured large parts of northern Aleppo, with the approval of Russia and Iran. The main aim was to stop the Kurds from connecting their canton administrations into one federal region after capturing Manbij. Now Turkey also threatens to attack Efrin. Reportedly, Turkey has recently sent more reinforcements near Efrin in coordination with Russia and the Al-Qaida linked Tahrir al-Sham. Turkish reconnaissance planes were recently spotted spying on Kurdish positions in Efrin. “Turkish warplanes are flying over the skies of the Afrin area,” Dr Abdulkarim Omar, head of Foreign Relations in Jazira canton said on Sunday. The People’s Protection Units (YPG) on Sunday said that Turkish-backed forces and the Turkish army have attacked Kurdish positions the last 11 days, in which 3 civilians were killed, and one civilian injured. Moreover, the YPG claimed to have shot down one reconnaissance plane.