Background
Shortly after the defeat of the 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.[16][17] 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."[18][19] The "Wrath of Olives" operations room was established in early summer 2018, although the YPG has denied affiliation with the group.[20]
By May 2018, an insurgency had broken out in the Afrin District, as the YPG[21] along with allied militants, as well as an armed insurgent group called the "Afrin Falcons",[22] began carrying out bombings, ambushes and assassinations against the Turkish Army, SNA forces, and civilians sympathetic or affiliated with them.[21][23] Other areas with pro-SDF guerrilla activity include Azaz and al-Bab, which have been under Turkish occupation since 2016.
2018
By mid-2018, the insurgency was mostly focused on the rural areas[21][23] and Afrin city's outskirts, where the Turkish Air Force targeted guerilla holdouts between May and July.[21][24] In May, the YPG killed the former leader of the Free East Ghouta Police, Jamal al-Zaghloul, who had been tasked with police duties in Afrin, with a mine in al-Basouta, south of Afrin city. Following his death, the YPG stated that "anyone in cooperation with the invasion forces is our target".[25]
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.[26]
- 4 May - The People's Protection Units (YPG) released a statement vowing to target anyone who is in cooperation with the "invasion forces" and claimed responsibility for the assassination of Jamal al-Zaghloul, head of the "Free East Ghouta Police".[27][28]
- 5 May - The People's Protection Units (YPG) killed seven Ahrar Sharqiyyah jihadists and one Turkish soldier in two attacks in Afrin and Jinderes.[26]
- 8 May - The People's Protection Units (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.[26]
- 12 May - Heavy clashes occurred between Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA) and People's Protection Units (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.[29]
June
- 27 June – An explosives-laden motorcycle and a suicide bomber attack a Levant Front headquarters at Kawa Hadad Roundabout, in other attack a car bombing detonated outside Dersim Hospital along Jindayris Road in Al Fillat neighborhood, Afrin. The attack left ten deaths and about thirty injured; the Afrin Falcons claimed the triple attack.[30][31]
August
- 9 August - 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. Four YPG fighters were killed and several light weapons and explosives were captured by the NFL. An NFL representative told journalists that the group had been monitoring the YPG cell for months as the area had seen heightened levels of violence, mainly assassinations targeting fighters and civilians with links to the Syrian National Army (SNA) by YPG cells active in the region.[32]
- 26 August - The YPG released a video showing the assassination of an al-Rahman Legion commander, Abu Muhammad Al-Shmali, in Babili.[33]
December
- 3 December - Jaysh al-Islam claimed to have foiled an attempted YPG infiltration in northwestern Aleppo, in the town of Deir Mushmush.[34]
- 8 December - A Sultan Murad Division commander named Abu al-Mot was assassinated in Afrin's Sherawa district by unknown gunmen. YPG claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released on December 11.[35]
- 15 December - The YPG Press Office released a statement and claimed to have killed four Sham Legion and two Sultan Murad Division "mercenaries" on December 14.[36]
- 21 December - The Afrin Liberation Forces (HRE), a pro-YPG insurgent group, was established and released a press statement laying out the group's goals; the group stated that they seek to end the "occupation of their areas" and that they would carry out operations as part of a "justified war" until the region is "liberated". The statement also claimed responsibility for two attacks: one on 18 December involving the detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED) against Turkish soldiers, claiming as many as six men had been injured and killed, and another attack on the same date, the detonation of another IED on forces of the Hamza Division.[37]