Turkey steps up assault on Kurd militia in Syria
AFRIN: Turkey on Monday intensified its offensive against Kurdish militia targets in Syria as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed there would be no stepping back in a campaign that has stoked concern among An kara’ s allies and neighbours.
The Turkish military announced the death of its first soldier since the launch of operation“Olive Branch” on Saturday, its second major intervention in Syria’s devastating seven-year civil war.
The operation, with Turkish war planes and artillery backing a major ground incursion involving An kara-backed Syrian rebels and Turkish tanks, aims to oust the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia from its Afrin enclave.
Civilians in the town of Afrin, 18 km from the front line, stocked up on food and medicine as they rea died for a potential onslaught. Shelters were prepared and the internet was only functioning sporadically.
Turkey sees the YPG asa terror group and the Syrian off shoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has waged a bloody three-decade ins urgency against the Turkish state.
“We are determined. A fr in will be sorted out. We will take no step back ,” Er dog an said in a televised speech in Ankara.
But the operation is hugely sensitive as Washington relied on the Y PG to oust Islamic State jiha- dis from their Syrian strong holds and the Kurdish militia now holds much of Syria’s north.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said a total of 22 Syrian civilians have been killed by Turkish strike sand two more by Kurdish fire during the operation. It said 54 Syrian combatants had been killed, including 19 Ankara-backed rebels ,26 Kurdish fighters and nine unidentified figures.