The group claims to have been founded following the Turkish invasion of Afrin, backed by an assortment of rebel groups. The group has been active since mid summer, 2018, and has carried out dozens of assassinations and bombings against Turkish-backed rebel forces.[4][5] As the group has vowed to kill not just Turkish soldiers and allied Syrian militants, but all who cooperate with the pro-Turkish forces, it and another anti-Turkish insurgent faction (the "Afrin Falcons") have been described as "death squads". Middle East security analyst Nicholas A. Heras has argued that the Wrath of Olives operations room and the Afrin Falcons were formed as front organizations of the YPG, as the latter "is under pressure from the United States to disassociate itself from the most controversial assassinations in Afrin."[2] Similarly, the pro-Syrian government al-Masdar News described the group as "YPG sleeper cell".[6]