Turkey starts airstrikes and ground assault on Kurdish area in northwest Syria


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UPDATE 1600 GMT: Turkey has begun airstrikes with F-16 warplanes on the Kurdish canton of Afrin and said that its ground offensive has begun.

A Kurdish official says six people have been injured, including two children, and are being treated in hospital.

Russia has now confirmed, after earlier denials, that it has moved its military personnel from Afrin.


UPDATE 1245 GMT: Pro-Assad outlets, including the media arm of Hezbollah, say the Assad regime and its foreign allies have finally captured the Abu Duhour base in southeast Idlib Province.

Through the winter the pro-Assad offensive — defying a Russian-proclaimed de-escalation zone — has re-entered Idlib Province, almost of all which was taken by the opposition in spring 2015, and closed within 2 km (1.2 miles) of Abu Duhour. However, earlier this month a Turkish-supported rebel counter-offensive pushed the pro-Assad forces back, capturing a series of villages.

The sudden advance of pro-Assad units into the base today has raised speculation of a deal between Turkey and Russia. Ankara would have a free hand, supported by the Free Syrian Army, to move on the Kurdish canton of Afrin. In return, Turkey and the rebels would pull back from Abu Duhur and nearby points.


UPDATE 1145 GMT: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says that the Turkish military has started ground operations against the “terror group” of the Kurdish militia YPG.

Erdoğan hit out at the US, which had urged Turkish focus on the Islamic State and had reportedly proposed a 30,000-strong border force led by Kurdish militia:

If there are some today who think that we will withdraw from our struggle for our independence and future when threatened with ‘we could lose soldiers’ and who think they will be able to persuade us to take what they dole out to us, it is our duty to show that they are mistaken….

There are no Syrian Democratic Forces, no border army, no border guards, no internal security structure. Who are you fooling? This organisation’s name is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), this organisation’s name is the Democratic Union Party (PYD), this organisation’s name is the YPG.

He said an operation against the city of Manbij in eastern Aleppo Province, held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, will follow after success in Afrin.


Turkish officials said their offensive on the Kurdish Afrin canton in northwest Syria has begun, as the Kurdish militia YPG reported more than 70 artillery shells were fired within several hours on Friday.

Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli announced in a TV interview:

The operation has actually started de facto with cross-border shelling.

When I say “de facto”, I don’t want it to be misunderstood. It has begun. All terror networks and elements in northern Syria will be eliminated. There is no other way.

Canikli said the main body of Turkish forces for an offensive, including armored vehicles, has been moved to the border. Analysts said that, given the hilly and mountainous area of Afrin, an artillery bombardment for days was likely before any ground assault.

The Defense Minister that Russian military personnel have begun withdrawal from Afrin. Turkey’s State Anadolu Agency reported the pullback of Russian military police to the regime-held villages of Nubl and al-Zahra.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied any movement: “Those reports have been refuted.”

Turkey’s military head Gen. Hulusi Akar and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan met Russian officials in Moscow on Thursday to review the forthcoming offensive. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Turkey also discussed its aerial operations with Russia and Iran.

Turkish media, citing “sources from the ground”, said Free Syrian Army rebels with heavy weapons have deployed in the Azaz region along the border with Afrin, setting up checkpoints on the Afrin highway.

The Assad regime has threatened to “confront any Turkish aggression or military action…with appropriate response”, but made no apparent move on Friday.

Kurdish forces, backed by the US, have taken much of northern and eastern Syria from the Islamic State since autumn 2015. The advance by the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces has established a de facto autonomous Kurdish area, opposed by almost every other party in the conflict as a step towards a “federal” Syria. However, the Afrin canton in the northwest is isolated from the Cezire and Kobani cantons where the SDF has made its gains.

Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdistan Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its YPG militia to be part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK, which has fought Turkish security forces for more than 30 years.


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