Thousands flee in Turkish siege of Afrin

TURKISH troops and allied opposition fighters have begun a siege of the Syrian Kurdish-held northern town of Afrin.

The Turkish military said the siege of Afrin, the main town in the enclave of the same name, had begun on Monday. It said the military had taken control of “critical areas” of the town.

Thousands of people had started to flee Afrin on Monday as the Turkish troops moved closer to the town.

Turkey launched a military offensive into the border enclave on January 20 to drive out Syrian Kurdish forces that it considers to be “terrorists” and an extension of Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.

The violence in northern Syria came as the largest rebel group in the besieged suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus vowed not to leave the area and to continue fighting advancing government forces as opposition activists reported a new wave of bombardment on Tuesday morning that inflicted casualties.

The Army of Islam statement came hours after it said it had reached an agreement with government-allied Russian forces to evacuate the wounded from the enclave. Its statement said the deal with the Russians was reached through the United Nations.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday that the evacuations are expected to begin “within hours” under UN supervision.

The Army of Islam statement on Monday was responding to local reports that said it was negotiating with the Syrian government and its Russian backers to leave the area known as eastern Ghouta.

Syrian government forces have captured more than half of eastern Ghouta over the past two weeks.