Turkish-rebel offensive close to completing takeover of Kurdish territory in northwest Syria
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UPDATE 1345 GMT: Contrasting voices and images from East Ghouta….
Maamoun talks from a child’s perspective about his love of biscuits, sleeping in the basement, and why he is not afraid of bombing, “I only feel afraid of God, not anyone else”:
A message from the middle of #EastrenGhouta
video by:Sirag Mahmood
translation by:Jehad Zarzour
subtitles timing by:@ebrahem_abs pic.twitter.com/A4fOX1mVTD— ebrahem abbass (@ebrahem_abs) March 19, 2018
15-year-old Muhammad Najem, who has regularly reported from the area amid the pro-Assad bombardment:
Good morning to you all my friends from the destroyed #Eastern_Ghouta 🙆♂️#iamstillalive #7WordsForSyria#Syria pic.twitter.com/MgtN3Oyrxb
— muhammad najem (@muhammadnajem20) March 19, 2018
White Helmets evacuating injured civilians in Douma:
Continued aerial bombardment during @SyriaCivilDefe teams working to evacuate the injured civilians in #Douma city in #EasternGhouta. #SaveGhouta #Syria pic.twitter.com/CXwVR1mNLp
— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) March 19, 2018
And regime troops playing on children’s slides:
#Syria #Damascus #EastGhouta #Eastern_Ghouta #EasternGhouta #East_Ghouta Little bit of fun for the Syrian Armed Forces. The guys haven't been sliding in 7 years. pic.twitter.com/p3EFF9KY55
— Ivan Sidorenko (@IvanSidorenko1) March 19, 2018
UPDATE 0900 GMT: The death toll in East Ghouta, near Syria’s capital Damascus, eased on Sunday as pro-Assad forces consolidated recent gains.
“Only” 13 people, including five children and four women were slain, according to White Helmets rescuers and
the Syrian Network for Human Rights.The pro-Assad attacks, including Russian airstrikes, have killed more than 1,500 people and wounded thousands since early February. More bodies are still buried under rubble, with rescuers and medics hindered by attacks which have destroyed many areas of towns and damaged at least 22 medical facilities.
In the past week, many civilians — estimated at 12,000 by the UN last Friday — have fled towards regime frontlines, while thousands others have moved deeper into East Ghouta after more than half the territory was lost to the assault.
After hours of work last night, @SyriaCivilDefe teams manged to pull a women and her baby girl who were buried under the rubble of their house after renewed aerial bombardments and artillery in the civilian neighborhoods in #Douma city in besieged #EasternGhouta. #SaveGhouta pic.twitter.com/VQeLjTUY2m
— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) March 19, 2018
The Violations Documentation Center summarizes:
Civilians accounted for 92% of battle-related deaths in #EastGhouta. The figure is from February 18 up until March 16. #Syria #IHL
— Violations Documentation Center in Syria (VDC) (@VDC_Syria) March 18, 2018
Turkish forces and the Free Syrian Army swiftly moved into the Kurdish city of Afrin in northwest Syria on Sunday, the culmination of their eight-week offensive against the Afrin canton.
Defense by the Kurdish YPG militia quickly evaporated after the Turkish-FSA force, having surrounded the city and cut off water, began the move to the center on Friday. The combination of rapid operations and Kurdish retreat meant civilian casualties were relatively low compared to other Syrian cases, although Kurdish officials and the YPG said 15 people were killed when a hospital was hit by shelling — an event denied by the Turkish military.
Turkish and FSA raised in the center yesterday, extending their control of much of northwest Syria. The offensive had already taken all territory on the border and towns such as Rajo and Jinderes.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan celebrated at a rally on the 103rd anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli:
Afrin city center is under control as of 8:30 this morning.
Most of the terrorists have already fled with tails between their legs. Our special forces and members of the Free Syrian Army are cleaning the remains and the traps they left behind. In the center of Afrin, symbols of trust and stability are waving instead of rags of terrorists.
Kurdish officials and the YPG promised a guerrilla campaign to “strike the positions of the Turkish enemy and its mercenaries at every opportunity”.
“Our forces all over Afrin will become a constant nightmare for them,” Othman Sheikh Issa, co-chair of the Afrin executive council, said in a televised statement.
The UN said on Friday that 48,000 people have fled Afrin canton during the Turkish-rebel offensive. The World Food Programme said it is distributing food to 25,000 people in the nearby regime-held towns of Nubl and Zahra.
Government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said the military campaign will continue to secure areas around Afrin and ensure food and medicine are available: “We have more to do. But the project of building a terrorism corridor and building a terrorist state is over.”
Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its YPG militia to be part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK, which has battled security forces for more than 30 years.
With the loss of Afrin, Kurdish control in Syria is now focused on the Kobani and Cezire cantons in the north and northeast of the country. The territory is held by the US-supported, YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
Top leaders of the Federation of Northern Syria at the European Parliament ask the EU to condemn the Turkish aggression and to pressure Turkey state to withdraw its army from Afrin
Condemning the Turkish aggression against North Syria and pressuring the Turkish state to withdraw its army from Afrin are two of the main requests of top representatives of the Federation of Northern Syria made today during a conference organised at the European Parliament.
The top leaders of North of Syria also asked the EU to put efforts to ensure the participation of the northern Syria’s representatives in the UN Geneva Peace Talks, to provide urgent humanitarian aid and to allocate the necessary fund for the re-construction of the liberated areas.
Mr. Sanharib Barsom […], co-president of the Federation of Northern Syria attended the conference and asked for the EU’s political and economic support, underlying the common objective of the EU and the Federation to fight and eradicate DAESH and all the jihadists groups from Syria.
The Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS) is a de facto autonomous region in northern Syria. It consists of three self-governing regions: Afrin Region, Jazira Region, and Euphrates Region.The region gained its de facto autonomy in 2012 as part of the ongoing North of Syria conflict and the wider Syrian Civil War.
The system in the North of Syria is widely known for its religious freedom, respect of gender balance and empowerment of women’s rights policies, which are seriously undermined by the Turkish aggression according to Mr. Alhassan, Governing Board of Federation of Northern Syria.
Sallux, the foundation of the European Christian Political Movement hosted the event, chaired by MEP Branislav Skripek who joined the criticism against the Turkish offensive calling for “the end of aggression”.
“The EU has failed in Syria along with the entire international community,” MEP Marijana Petir added, also saying that she feels “extremely sad and devastated as my heart falls apart with the recent developments in Syria. This wounded country has suffered so much in the last seven years.”
“What’s happening in Syria is much closer than what we can imagine and solidarity should be never evaluated by distance!” Methin Rhawi head of Foreign relations of the European Syriac Union concluded.
http://europeanpost.co/top-leaders-of-the-federation-of-northern-syria-at-the-european-parliament-ask-the-eu-to-condemn-the-turkish-aggression-and-to-pressure-turkey-state-to-withdraw-its-army-from-afrin/ 4/10/2018