Small Wars Journal

Erdogan: Turkish Military and Allied Rebels in ‘Total Control’ of Syria’s Afrin

Sun, 03/18/2018 - 7:01am

Erdogan: Turkish Military and Allied Rebels in ‘Total Control’ of Syria’s Afrin by Erin Cunningham – Washington Post

Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels seized the city of Afrin in northern Syria, Turkey’s president and military said Sunday, nearly two months after launching an offensive to oust Kurdish militants from the area.

Fighters from the Free Syrian Army entered Afrin early Sunday morning and “gained total control over the Afrin town center as part of Operation Olive Branch” with the support of the Turkish army, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. In a statement, Turkey’s military said its forces and allied fighters were sweeping the city for mines and homemade bombs.

The Kurdish YPG militia that controlled Afrin said late Saturday that its fighters were resisting a fierce Turkish bombardment. A Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said clashes continued inside the city.

Turkey’s military on Sunday posted footage of a soldier holding a Turkish flag over a Kurdish municipal building in Afrin amid celebratory gunfire. Another image showed a Turkish soldier raising and saluting a Turkish flag over the city.

It was unclear how many civilians remained in Afrin, which had been under siege for days…

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