Turkish forces take strategic Syria hill in anti-Kurd push
Observer group: At least 51 civilians killed in operation.
Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters captured a strategic hill in northwestern Syria on Sunday as their offensive to root out Kurdish fighters entered a second week.
Associated Press reporters in the Turkish border town of Kilis heard constant shelling and clashes as Turkish aircraft flew overhead and plumes of smoke rose in the distance.
The Turkey-backed forc- es have been trying to capture the hill, which separates the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin from the Turkey-controlled town of Azaz, since the start of their offensive Jan. 20, but have been met with stiff resistance.
The Kurdish militia known as the People’s De- fense Units, or YPG, said Turkey sent reinforcements to the area following intense airstrikes on Sunday.
The Turkish military said in a statement that its sol- diers and allied Syrian op- position fighters captured Bursayah hill assisted by airstrikes, attack helicopters, armed drones and howitzers. Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the Turkish troops seized control of the strategic hill, which overlooks northeastern Afrin, after intense battles.
The Observatory said at least 51 civilians, including 17 children, were killed in the offensive on Sunday, in- cluding eight people from the same family. It said 66 YPG fighters and 69 Tur- key-backed Syrian fighters were also killed. Turkey says five of its soldiers and 16 allied fighters were killed in the fighting. The YPG said one of its female fighters blew herself up, destroying a Turkish tank in southwestern Afrin.
Reports also emerged that an ancient temple in Afrin was badly damaged in Turkish airstrikes that struck its courtyard late Friday, according to the Observatory, the YPG and the Syrian government. In a statement published on the Syrian state news agency SANA, the government antiquities department condemned the destruction of the temple.
Images showed stones piled up in the open courtyard of the temple of Ain Dara, an Iron Age Syro-Hittite temple.
The temple, which features sculptures of lions and sphinxes and “the giant footsteps of the gods,” was noted for its structural similarities to Solomon’s temple as described in the Bible.