Cars and buses reportedly carrying people from across Syria’s Deir ez-Zor region arrived in Afrin via the Zahra crossing on Thursday.
According to local reports, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters are also arriving in Afrin after having allegedly left the front in the Deir ez-Zor region to join Kurdish forces fighting Turkish troops.
In September 2017, US-backed SDF forces launched an offensive against the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate with the purpose of recapturing territory east of the Euphrates. On Monday, the US Pentagon announced an “operational pause” due to the Turkish military operations in Afrin.