Afrin, Syria

Turkey routs Kurds: After a two-month offensive, Turkish troops and their SyrianArab rebel allies this week seized control of the city of Afrin from U.S.-backed SyrianKurdish militants. Some 200,000 civilians have fled the Kurdish-majority Afrin region in recent days. Jingoistic Turkish media portrayed the victory over the YPG militia— which it accuses of being a front for the PKK, a Turkish-Kurdish terrorist outfit—as a great national feat. Turkey has threatened to push its offensive further east to the town of Manbij, where American troops are stationed alongside YPG fighters, who have proved to be crucial U.S. allies in the fight against ISIS. The Kurdish group has vowed to launch a guerrilla campaign in Afrin and create “an ongoing nightmare” for the Turks.