In the course of the Syrian civil war, Damascus government forces pulled back from the canton in spring 2012 to give way to the People's Protection Units (YPG) and autonomous self-government under the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which was formally declared on 29 January 2014.[16] Until 2018, violence in Afrin was minor, involving artillery shelling by Jabhat al-Nusra[17] as well as by Turkey.[18][16][19]