Turkey vows to expand operation against Syria Kurds
AFRIN, Syria: Turkey vowed Monday to expand its operation in northern Syria to other Kurdish-held areas after its troops and allied forces seized control of the city of Afrin in a major blow to the Kurds.
A day after Turkish-led forces entered the city virtually unopposed, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the fight would now be taken to other Kurdish areas of northern Syria.
“We will continue this process until we entirely eliminate this corridor, including in Manbij, Ayn al-Arab, Tal Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and Qamishli,” said the Turkish leader, in a characteristically bullish mood.
Syria’s civil war entered its eighth year this week with heavy fighting on two fronts – around Afrin and in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, where an air strike on a school killed 15 children.
In Afrin, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units ( YPG) could do little when Syrian Arab fighters backed by Nato’s second-largest army thrust into the city.
Thousands fled as the rebels, mostly fighters opposed to Syrian President Bashar alAssad, celebrated their victory by destroying the statue of Kurdish hero Kawa.
They looted shops and homes, with an AFP reporter saying fighters manning checkpoints on Monday were still joking about their spoils.
The rebels’ command on Monday announced it had arrested several people involved in the looting, and was setting up checkpoints around the city to locate any stolen goods.
Ankara also vowed to investigate.
According to the United Nations, some 98,000 people were displaced by fighting in Afrin.
The International Committee of the R ed Cross on Monday called for access to those displaced to provide lifesaving aid.
The exodus sparked concern from the US, with State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert saying on Monday most of the city’s residents had fled.
“We are also concerned over reports of looting inside the city of Afrin. We have repeatedly expressed our serious concern to Turkish officials regarding the situation in Afrin,” she said.
We will continue this process until we entirely eliminate this corridor, including in Manbij, Ayn alArab, Tal Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and Qamishli.
Turkey’s takeover of Afrin also prompted outrage from Syria’s foreign ministry on Monday, which slammed it as ‘illegitimate.’
“Syria condemns the Turkish occupation of Afrin and the crimes it is committing there, and demands the invading forces immediately withdraw from the Syrian territory they occupied,” the ministry said.
Pro- government militiamen joined the fight to defend Afrin, but Turkish bombing raids killed dozens of them.
Ankara launched its operation on Jan 20, saying it was aiming to secure the country’s north to allow the three million Syrian refugees on Turkish soil to return.
But it is also ferociously opposed to the YPG and wants to block the Kurdish militia from consolidating a statelet along Turkey’s southern border. — AFP
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Tukish President