US, Iran, Assad object to Turkish-rebel operations; Russia muted


LATEST


UPDATE 1700 GMT: Turkish and Free Syrian Army forces have captured the hilltop position of Mount Bursaya (see map), taking YPG fortifications and artillery.

Pro-opposition activists said YPG used the hilltop to shell both the opposition-held town of Azaz and the Turkish town of Kilis.

Claimed photo of Turkish forces on Mount Bursaya:

TURKEY FORCES MOUNT BURSAYA 22-01-18

A message from Turkish fighters to Kurdish civilians, “We don’t come to fight you”:


Turkey’s military and Syrian rebels moved into the Kurdish canton of Afrin in northwest Syria on Sunday.

After shelling on Friday and airstrikes on Saturday, Free Syrian Army units took over villages such as Bali north of Afrin city.

Turkish artillery continued to fire on the Kurdish militia YPG. Kurdish outlets said at least 14 civilians were slain and more than a dozen by the Turkish shelling and airstrikes.

YPG rockets fired from inside Syria hit two Turkish border towns, killing a Syrian national and wounding 46 in Reyhanli and injuring five in Kilis, according to the local governor’s office and local sources.

Despite the video of advancing rebels, YPG officials insisted, “All the Turkish military’s ground attacks against Afrin have been repelled so far and they have been forced to retreat.”

Turkish armored vehicles on the move:

Free Syrian Army fighters with residents of the village of Kurni:

“We Will Complete This Quickly”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the start of the ground operations and proclaimed, “Now we see how the YPG … are fleeing in Afrin. We will chase them. God willing, we will complete this operation very quickly.”

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said a four-phase operation will confront “8,000 to 10,000 terrorists” to create a safe zone with a depth of 30 km (19 miles), covering 10,000 square km (3,860 square miles) inside the Turkish-Syrian border.

The US continued without success to call for a halt to operations. State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said,
“We urge Turkey to exercise restraint and ensure that its military operations remain limited in scope and duration and scrupulous to avoid civilian casualties.”

The Turkish operation was spurred in part week by last week’s reports that the US was forming a 30,000-strong border force, half of which would come from the US-supported, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. After meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson claimed that the news was “misrepresented”. However, as the SDF showed off its first graduates for the force, Erdoğan promised that Ankara would “drown” the “terror” army.

Ankara considers the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its YPG militia to be part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis was more restrained in his response on Sunday, saying that Turkey’s motives needed to be understood. “We’ll work this out,” he promised.

Both Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his ally Iran criticized the Turkish-rebel offensive. In a meeting with former Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, Assad said:

The brutal Turkish aggression against the Syrian city of Afrin cannot be separated from the policy used by the Turkish regime since day one of the Syrian crisis that is basically founded on helping terrorism and terrorist groups regardless of their names.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said, “The continuation of the crisis in Afrin may lead to restrengthening of Takfiri-terrorist groups in Syria’s northern areas and once again fan the flames of war and destruction in this country.”

However, Russia continued to be muted in its response, after Turkish military and intelligence heads conferred with Russian counterparts in Moscow last Thursday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has tried to focus blame on the US for its support of the SDF while avoiding a direct challenge to Erdoğan.

Russia withdrew its military personnel from the Afrin area just before the initial Turkish shelling.

In a possible sign of a toughening position, Russian State media featured a statement from a member of the Russian Parliament’s Security Committee that Moscow will pursue a UN demand for a halt to the operations.

France has already called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss both the Afrin situation and pro-Assad assaults, supported by Russia, on the opposition in Idlib Province in northwest Syria and in the Damascus suburbs.

Anti-Assad Forces Fight Back at Abu Duhour Airbase

Two days after losing the Abu Duhour airbase in southeast Idlib Province, anti-Assad forces have fought back, reportedly reclaiming part of the base after using suicide vehicle bomb.

The hardline jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham posted images of one of the bombings.

ABU DUHOUR SVBIED

After months of assaults, the Assad regime and foreign allies suddenly took over the base on Saturday as Turkey and rebels moved against Kurdish lines elsewhere in northwest Syria.


Report: Pro-Assad Chemical Attack on Douma Near Damascus

The White Helmets civil defense organization reports the use of chemical weapons in the latest pro-Assad attacks on the opposition-held East Ghouta area near Damascus.

The strike was on the town of Douma, the center of the remaining opposition territory:

Pro-Assad forces have tried for months to overrun the area, with continuous bombardment and a tightening of the 5-year siege. Almost 400,000 residents are at risk from the attacks and from lack of food, medicine, and other supplies.

Opposition activists say the pro-Assad offensive also used chlorine on East Ghouta on January 13.

The Douma Local Council has appealed to the international community “to assume its responsibility to protect civilians from the machine of killing and destruction of all kinds of weapons”.