Turkish forces gain in battle against Kurds
MARSAWA, Syria — Turkey’s prime minister said Saturday that Turkish troops have captured a strategic village in a Kurdish-held enclave in northwestern Syria, tightening its grip on Kurdish forces in the sixth week of its offensive on the area.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the Kurdish Afrin district has been “surrounded” by the military, special police and paramilitary forces, as well as allied Syrian opposition fighters.
“We have cleared all areas near our borders of terror nests,” he said at a rally in the central province of Konya, adding that Turkey would not cease its campaign.
Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters have been attacking Afrin from the north, west and east, and have formed a crescent around the district.
Turkey said it wants to oust the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, from Afrin. It considers the group a terrorist organization, an extension of a Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. Turkey said 41 of its soldiers have been killed since the operation began.
Associated Press journalists gained access to the Afrin district for the first time Saturday on a tour organized by the Turkish government, visiting a small village recently cleared of the YPG.
Captain Ahmed Taqtaq of the allied Syrian forces in Marsawa village said they seized control of three villages in the last 10 days, fighting some 50 Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Turkey’s Red Crescent and emergency agency distributed beds, blankets and food to some 20 families in Marsawa, where walls were tagged with the logos of the YPG and other Kurdish groups.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syria conflict through onthe-ground activists, said fierce clashes were still ongoing in Rajo, in Afrin’s northwest. If confirmed, Rajo would be the largest center in Afrin to be captured since the Turkish offensive began on Jan. 20.
The offensive has heightened tensions between Turkey and its NATO ally, the United States, which backs the YPG fighting against Islamic State militants in eastern Syria. The U.S. has no troop presence in Afrin, but has said it fears the Turkish offensive could distract from the fight against militants in the east.
Near the Syrian capital Damascus, the government continued its offensive against eastern Ghouta, a rebel-held region, despite a Russian-ordered fivehour humanitarian pause. A U.N. 30-day cease-fire has failed to take hold.