By mid-2018, the insurgency was mostly focused on the rural areas[1][2] and Afrin city's outskirts, causing the Turkish Air Force to bombarded guerilla holdouts in between May and July.[9][12] In May, YPG killed the former leader of the Free East Ghouta Police, Jamal al-Zaghloul, who had been tasked with police duties in Afrin, he was killed by a mine in al-Basouta, south of Afrin city. Following his death, YPG claimed that "anyone in cooperation with the invasion forces is our target" in response to assassinating him.[13]