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Syria: Turkey’s ‘Operation Olive Branch’ in Afrin Kills 18 Civilians

France announced it was calling for an emergency meeting of the United Nation's Security Council on the issue
Turkey APC

Image Courtesy: Al Masdar News

 At least 18 civilians have been killed in the Turkish military campaign ‘Operation Olive Branch’ against Syria's Kurdish-held Afrin enclave in northern Syria, a monitor group has reported.

 Kurdish activists said 11 civilians, including six children and women, were killed and 16 others wounded on Sunday in Afrin by the Turkish fire.

The Syrian authorities have condemned the operation, which according to experts, could prove deadly for the region opening a new war front. "Turkey’s aggression in the Syrian city of Afrin cannot be separated from the policy pursued by the Turkish regime since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis and built on support to terrorism and various terrorist groups," President Bashar Assad said on Sunday.

The military operation in Afrin is happening in the backdrop of the upcoming high level ‘Syrian National Dialogue Congress’ between Russian, Iranian and Turkish representatives to be held in Sochi on January 30.  Russia had earlier expressed its interest to include Kurds in the Sochi talks, which Turkey vehemently opposed.

 A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed “concern” about the offensive, and called on the parties “to show mutual restraint.” Russia, which has its military presence in Afrin, according to some reports, began withdrawing its military observers from the region. But sources suggest, though Russia many not directly oppose the offensive; it may demand to end the operation in the United Nations emergency meeting.

On Sunday, France announced it was calling for an emergency meeting of the United Nation's Security Council on the issue. 

According to political experts, the Kurdish forces had over expected the ‘support’ from the United States, whose decision to raise a 30,000 strong border force of Kurds accelerated the Turkish offensive.

The base of the new force is essentially a realignment of approximately 15,000 members of the SDF to a new mission in the Border Security Force as their actions against ISIS [Islamic State] draw to a close,” the Coalition’s Public Affairs Office told Reuters in an email.

The offensive has put Turkey and United States, both NATO allies, at diplomatic loggerhead. The State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on Thursday said "We would call [...] on the Turks to not take any actions of that sort … we don't want them to engage in violence, but we want them to keep focused on ISIS."

According to reports, back home in Turkey, police used pepper spray to disperse pro-Kurdish protesters in Ankara and Istanbul, detaining at least 12 people.

Meanwhile, the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, said four of its fighters were killed as well as 10 fighters of the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) since Saturday when the Turkish-backed forces attempted to storm several border villages of Afrin.

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Image Courtesy: TRTWorld

An official in the YPG, Mahmoud Bardakhan, declared on Sunday, the beginning of a "revolutionary campaign against the Turkish enemy" and FSA, which is involved in the Turkish campaign against Afrin.

Kurdish activists said the Kurdish fighters took several FSA fighters as captives during the military showdown in Afrin.

Kurdish activists said intense battles raged between the YPG and the Turkish army on the outskirts of the Adama town in the countryside of Afrin after the attempt of the Turkish army to advance in the town.

Earlier in the day, Ankara said it had begun the ground incursion into Afrin, a day after intense shelling and airstrikes that marked the beginning of the Turkish campaign against the Kurdish fighters in Syria.

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged on Sunday that the military campaign in Afrin would be over in a "short time," describing the military campaign as a "national struggle."

Turkey's military operation in Afrin aims to deal a strong blow to the Kurdish fighters and weaken their growing influence in northern Syria near Turkey.

The operation came particularly after the Kurdish forces defeated the Islamic State in Syria's northern province of Raqqa, and when the US is forming 30,000-strong border forces from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and other Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.

(with inputs from IANS)

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