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One issue that significantly affects life in Syria under the control of the Turkish-backed factions is infighting between them, which often leads to injuries & deaths among civilians. http://bit.ly/2DnZpCi Reasons for infighting vary.
Infighting often occurs due to dispute in division of spoils, control of checkpoints that generate revenue or attempts to stop looting. Yday, infighting broke out in the market of Tel Abyad (a town captured in last offensive) after some fighters attempted to stop the looting.
In the areas captured in the invasion of NE Syria, tensions are growing between the factions participating in the op over distribution of weapons and ammo left behind by the SDF.
Turkey does not distribute weapons equally across factions & the factions made up of fighters displaced to the north with just light weaponry are at a disadvantage. Factions are constantly trying to improve their arsenal vs. the others to create deterrence & for future infighting
Due to dysfunction of law & order institutions, civilians seek protection from factions (usually ones whose fighters hail from the same region) against abuses of other factions. So amassing weapons is necessary for protection of civilians, usually relatives of the fighters.
For example, 70 days ago, a group of Levant Front fighters came into a shop in Efrîn of a man displaced from eastern Qalamoon & took a faucet without paying. The shop owner got into a verbal confrontation with the fighters so they later came by the shop & opened fire on it.pic.twitter.com/Ky954iDRIX
Jaysh al-Islam, a faction made up of fighters displaced from eastern Qalamoon & Ghouta, then clashed with the Levant Front in the streets of Efrîn, leading to injuries of passersby.
The combination of imbalances of power between the factions, territoriality, availability of spoils (in Efrîn and newly captured areas), lack of discipline among fighters, their poverty, all happening in an anarchic environment, creates a recipe for incessant fratricidal fighting
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