On Sunday, pro-Ankara rebels tried to penetrate the region, leading to clashes between the army and armed groups supported by Turkey in northeast Syria, which is controlled by the Kurds, according to a war monitor.
“18 dead among the (pro-Turkish) factions and five from the regime forces,” according to Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, who also added that other people had been injured.
According to the British-based Observatory, which depends on a vast network of sources within Syria, the confrontations took place in the Tal Tamr region in the northwest of the province of Hasakeh, which is controlled by the Kurds.
It said that earlier in the day, elements of the Syrian National Army, a coalition of rebel groups supported by Ankara, attempted to penetrate the area.
According to the Observatory, the response by the Syrian army and local militants connected to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces resulted in the losses.
The Tal Tamr region is close to a border region that Ankara and its allies control.
Turkish raids against Kurdish troops in northern Syria since 2016 have helped Ankara to maintain control over the border region.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, has long advocated for the creation of a “safe zone” that extends the whole length of the border and is 30 kilometers (20 miles) deep.
In return for Turkey stopping an earlier attack, a 2019 deal mediated by Russia saw Syrian government soldiers stationed in portions of the northern border region.