Turkey advances offensive into Syrian Kurdish enclave

AZAZ, Syria — Fighting raged in northwestern Syria Saturday as Turkish troops and allied militiamen tried to advance their week-long offensive in a Kurdishcontrolled enclave, Syrian opposition activists said.

The bombardment could be heard a few miles away from Afrin in the Turkish-controlled town of Azaz, where Associated Press journalists were on a media trip organized by the Turkish government and escorted by Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters taking part in the offensive.

Azaz is one of the fronts from where Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters of the so-called Free Syrian Army have launched a push into Afrin to clear the area of a Syrian Kurdish militia which Ankara considers to be a national security threat. The militia known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, has been a partner of the United States in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.

Kurdish and other activists said Saturday’s fighting concentrated around the Rajo area in Afrin, amid heavy shelling and airstrikes by the Turkish forces. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syria war through a network of activists on the ground, said Turkish helicopters were attacking the town of Rajo, struggling to make progress after a week of attacks.

Turkey’s official news agency said rockets fired from the Afrin region in Syria hit a house in the border province of Kilis, injuring two people. Another rocket was fired and struck the town of Reyhanli, in Hatay province, slightly injuring one child, the Anadolu news agency reported.

The Turkish military said in a statement that two Turkish soldiers and two allied Syrian fighters were killed Saturday. It claimed 447 YPG militants were “neutralized” since Jan. 20.

AP journalists saw a checkpoint in the village of Maarin, manned by local security trained and equipped by Turkey.