Turkish forces push deep into Syria's Afrin city





Cairo - Turkish forces were Sunday pushing deep into Afrin in northern Syria, hours after they entered the mostly Kurdish city as part of a two-month offensive, a monitoring group reported.



 
The forces and their allies overnight entered Afrin, the capital city of the enclave of the same name and have since seized two districts, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told dpa.
Pro-Turkey rebels said Kurdish fighters had withdrawn from the city early Sunday, a claim that the Observatory’s head, Rami Abdel-Rahman, denied.
Turkish-led forces have surrounded Afrin this week, prompting a mass exodus from the city.
Backed by allied Syrian rebels, Turkish troops began a military operation against the enclave of Afrin on January 20, opening a new front in Syria's civil war, which is now in its eighth year.
Ankara considers Afrin’s Kurdish People's Protection Units a terrorist organization linked to Kurdish insurgents in Turkey. For the US and its allies, however, the group is a main ally in fighting against the Islamic State extremist group in Syria.

 


Sunday, March 18th 2018
(dpa)
           


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