Russian military units withdrawing from Shehba

Reports are coming through that Russian forces are preparing to leave Shehba and have already withdrawn from several locations in the morning hours.

According to information provided by local sources, Russian military units have evacuated their positions in the areas of Til Rifat, Sherawa and Kishtehare at around 09:30 local time Tuesday morning, April 13th.

Reports say that the Russian forces are preparing to leave Shehba and will reportedly move to Aleppo.

In Shehba, hundreds of thousands of displaced people from Afrin have been living in self-constructed camps since 2018. A large part of the canton, located east of Afrin, was under ISIS occupation between 2013 and 2015. The region is under daily attack by the Turkish army and Islamist proxies. In March, at least 208 waves of attacks took place, mainly by artillery fire. The attacks mainly targeted civilian settlements and are apparently intended to force the population to flee in preparation for further expansion of the occupied territories in northern Syria.