Clashes broke out in Aleppo between Kurdish armed groups and Islamist rebels on July 28. The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) saw them as proof that Turkey continues to support rebel offensives against Kurds, but Ankara denies the assertion. Moreover, the group claims that ethnic cleansing has been carried out against Kurdish civilians, but Syrian rebels reject the allegation.

The July 28 clashes took place in Kurdish-populated areas of Aleppo. Social media groups and websites affiliated with the PYD quickly uploaded to Twitter, Facebook, and Kurdish news websites images of alleged massacres taking place. Even Turkish media critical of the Ankara government quickly picked up the story, although most of the pictures and video footage were of civilians killed by Assad’s forces in the past in other parts of Syria.

For some Kurds, the events reminded them of the campaigns against them carried out by the Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein. At least 100,000 Kurdish civilians were killed in the 1980s in Iraq.

The Kurdish Unity Party, one of the fiercest Kurdish critics of the PYD, suggested that 400 Kurds had gone missing in Tel Hassel or Tel Aran, and 19 were killed. Many of the deceased reportedly had relatives in Kurdish armed groups.