The SDF insurgency in northern Syria also known as Afrin insurgency was an armed campaign conducted by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and SDF-aligned Kurdish insurgent groups, most prominent of which are the Afrin Liberation Forces (HRE), in response to the expansion of Turkish military occupation in the Afrin Region. The insurgency began immediately after the end of Operation Olive Branch in March 2018, which was carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the Syrian National Army (SNA).
The insurgency sought to expel Turkish forces and their allied factions from rural as well as urban areas captured during the invasion of Afrin. The city itself, the Sherawa region, a rocky extension of Aleppo's Mount Simeon District, and Afrin's isolated, forested central highlands were hotbeds for insurgent activity. However the insurgency also extended deeper into Turkish and Syrian Interim Government (SIG) controlled territories captured during Operation Euphrates Shield such as Al-Bab, Azaz, Jarabulus as well as other areas of the Aleppo Governorate. Occasionally actions of speculative veracity were conducted in the Idlib Governorate. A key staging ground for insurgent activities was Tell Rifaat (Shahba Canton), which remained under SDF control after the fall of Afrin. The insurgency was characterized by guerrilla warfare tactics, including hit-and-run assaults, anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) strikes, roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs), targeted assassinations and summary executions, bombings, and sabotage operations against Turkish personnel, SNA fighters, alleged collaborators, and infrastructure associated with the occupation.
As civilian casualties increased, assassinations and bombings also increasingly adopted an ethno-nationalist framing. In statements accompanying various attacks, some insurgent groups and pro-Kurdish media outlets described the targets as "settlers", "thieves" and "mercenaries" terms they used to describe Syrian Arab and Palestinian internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, as well as pro-Turkish fighters and their families who had been resettled in the formerly Kurdish-majority region of Afrin, which political scientist and cultural anthropologist T. Schmidinger also described as "Rojava's heartland" and "much more Kurdish than any other part of Rojava" prior to the occupation. The settled groups were portrayed by the insurgents as part of an alleged demographic-engineering policy (Turkification) by the Turkish-backed administration, a policy that has been documented by independent watchdogs such as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), while The Guardian had reported in June 2018 that the population balance in the city of Afrin had already been changed from predominantly Kurdish to majority Arab. Schmidinger argues that these and other reported abuses against Afrin's residents, including forced disappearances, killings, and widespread looting, have intensified Kurdish grievances and, in turn, strengthened the desire for retribution, ultimately helping to fuel the insurgency.
The SOHR stated in an April 2024 report that, since the beginning of Afrin's occupation and the subsequent insurgency, "attacks and explosions [have] occur[red] almost daily," although the perpetrator behind many of these incidents was often unclear until a group claimed responsibility. In the later stages of the conflict, some attacks were also attributed to infighting between Turkish-backed factions, activity by the Islamic State (ISIS), and other actors.
The insurgency came to a supposed halt during the broader 2024 Syrian opposition offensives and the SNA's Operation Dawn of Freedom which forced the SDF in Tell Rifaat and the Shabha Canton to retreat to Kurdish-held Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in Aleppo and to the remaining areas of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
Background Shortly after the defeat of the SDF's People's Protection Units (YPG) in the Afrin Region, the spokeswoman for the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (Syria) (PYD), had already announced that the SDF would fight Turkish and allied opposition forces using guerrilla tactics. The YPG also stated "We reiterate that these terrorists and their families are the main targets of our forces. Our forces will target all the elements in the Afrin Canton that are in contact or cooperation with the Turkish invasion state."
2018 By May 2018, a full-scale insurgency had broken out in the Afrin District, as the YPG along with allied militants and an insurgent group called the Afrin Falcons, began carrying out bombings, ambushes and assassinations against the Turkish Army, SNA forces, and civilians sympathetic or affiliated with them.
By mid-2018, the insurgency was mostly focused on the rural areas and Afrin city's outskirts. The SOHR reported an escalation in insurgent activity involving landmines, IED detonations, and rocket attacks. According to the organisation, these attacks killed dozens of fighters from various factions as well as members of the Turkish armed forces, with the pace of incidents increasing at an alarming rate. In response the Turkish Air Force regularly targeted guerilla holdouts in the Afrin region, while the Turkish Army and allied militants conducted "sweeping operations" to uncover sleeper cell hideouts between May and July.
Pro-SDF guerrilla activity spread to include the Euphrates Shield region, in particular Azaz and al-Bab.
March
27 March - The Turkish government announced the death of two Turkish soldiers, while the SNA confirmed the deaths of 16 of their fighters, as a result of attacks by YPG sleeper cells, The National reported.
April
27 April - The SOHR reported that the Turkish military had established checkpoints across the region, where Kurdish residents have reportedly been detained for alleged affiliation with the YPG. Furthermore "military controlled zones" were set up, as well as headquarter buildings and barracks for Turkish military forces in Kafr Safra village, north of Jindires.
May 3 May - YPG forces carried out an attack against Turkish army units positioned at Mahmoodiyyah district in Afrin city center. At least one soldier was killed and two others injured according to the YPG. 4 May - The YPG claimed responsibility for the killing of the former leader of the "Free East Ghuta Police," Jamal al-Zaghoul, who had been tasked by Turkish authorities with police duties and the re-settling of ethnic Arabs displaced from Ghuta to the Kurdish-majority region of Afrin, when a land mine hit his vehicle, south of Afrin city. Following his death, the YPG stated that "anyone in cooperation with the invasion forces is our target," including the re-settled Arabs who were, according to the YPG "part of a project by Zaghoul in which they were recruited as mercenaries." Additionally the attack killed three fighters of the Sham Legion, Zaghoul's wife, and fully destroyed their vehicle. 5 May - The YPG claimed to have killed seven Ahrar al-Sharqiya militants and one Turkish soldier in two attacks in Afrin and Jinderes. 8 May - The YPG claimed responsibility for the attack against the military base of the Turkish-backed "23rd Brigade" on the road between Jinderes district and village of Hammam in Afrin region. According to the YPG, five "terrorists" were neutralized as a result. 12 May - Heavy clashes occurred between SNA and YPG in the vicinity of villages of Maidankah, Qurtqoolaq and Kafarromah in Afrin's Sherawa district. According to the YPG, at least seven "terrorists" were killed. 26–31 May - The YPG claimed to have killed dozens of Turkish-backed fighters and at least two Turkish soldiers in six ambushes and bomb attacks, The National reported.
Founding of the Wrath of Olives Operations Room In the summer of 2018 the Wrath of Olives Operations Room was established, which in the following months conducted numerous ambushes, and kidnappings against pro-Turkish Forces leading to executions, while warning the remaining Kurds residing in Afrin to "not approach the headquarters and place[s] of the mercenaries, to save your lives." The YPG had denied affiliation with the group.
T. Schmidinger told Al-Monitor that the label Wrath of Olives has been interpreted as a reference to claims that Turkey appropriated Afrin's formerly lucrative olive harvest. During Afrin's occupation Turkish-aligned groups destroyed large numbers of olive trees, pressured farmers to sell their produce at very low prices, and removed or confiscated local olive-oil presses.
June
In the first week of June, Hasan Sindi, a senior Kurdish member of the Turkish-backed Afrin Council, stated that he had fled to Europe, claiming he was the target of an assassination plot following a series of attacks by the Wrath of Olives Operations Room. 9 June - The Wrath of Olives Operations Room conducted their first official action in the insurgency by assassinating Ahmed Mesto, a Syrian Kurd, also known as Abu Aslan al-Kurdi, leader of the Turkish-backed Levant Front. In a statement they announced that they had killed three local Kurds on charges of "treason, espionage, and working with Turkey" earlier. 27 June - An explosives-laden motorcycle and a suicide bomber attacked a Levant Front headquarters at Kawa Hadad Roundabout, while in another attack a car bomb detonated outside Dersim Hospital along Jindayris Road in Al Fillat neighborhood, Afrin. According to the SOHR the attack left 10 killed and about 30 injured; the Afrin Falcons claimed responsibility for all of the attacks. Kurdistan24 spoke of as many as 26 people killed and wounded in the two explosions. 30 June - The Wrath of Olives Operations Room released a video of an assassination of two Sham Legion members in Idlib city, stating that "mercenaries [...] in Idlib, Afrin, Azaz, Mare', al-Bab, Jarablus and al-Rai will be constantly targeted." July 3 July - An IED in Afrin's Al-Ashrafiyeh neighbourhood killed one while injuring several others, the SOHR reported. 5 July - A person was killed by an IED in Afrin city, the SOHR reported. 7 July - The YPG claimed responsibility for an attack on Turkish soldiers outside the city of Afrin. That same day, at least 10 people were severely wounded in a car bomb that struck Jarablus. 8 July - Several people were killed and injured by a motorcycle bomb that struck the city of al-Bab.
The following days Turkish warplanes and artillery struck alleged YPG positions on Afrin's outskirts, local media reported.
In July, a senior Turkish official stated that maintaining security in Afrin remained a priority in light of the near-daily attacks.
August 5 August - The Wrath of Olives Operations Room released a video in which its fighters executed an alleged collaborator, who was part of a Turkish-supported governance body. Since this video and until March 2019, at least fifteen other Wrath of Olives-linked executions had taken place. 9 August - According to pro-Syrian opposition SMART News Agency the National Front for Liberation (NFL) clashed with the YPG in Kafr Nabu and Ba'ai in the southern part of the Afrin district near the border with the Idlib Governorate. SMART News Agency claimed that four YPG fighters were killed and that several light weapons and explosives were captured by the NFL. 16 August - The Wrath of Olives Operations Room released a video of their ambush on a SNA patrol at night. 18 August - The Wrath of Olives Operations Room published a video claiming responsibility for the killing of several pro-Turkish fighters. The footage included a captured identification card taken from one of the slain individuals. 22 August - Three civilians were killed in an explosion on Rajo street in Afrin's city center, Kurdistan24 reported, while the SOHR only confirmed the death of one. 26 August - The YPG released a video showing the assassination of an al-Rahman Legion commander, Abu Muhammad Al-Shmali, in Bulbul.