http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...ish-militia/article22486190.ece?homepage=true
Planes, artillery pound 153 targets including weapons stores
Turkish ground troops entered
Syria on Sunday to push an offensive against Kurdish militia as rocket fire hit a border town in apparent retaliation.
Turkey on Saturday launched operation “Olive Branch” seeking to oust from the Afrin region of northern Syria the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers a terror group.
But the campaign risks further increasing tensions with Turkey’s NATO ally the U.S. — which has supported the YPG in the fight against Islamic State jihadists — and also needs at least the tacit support of Russia to succeed.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said troops crossed into the YPG-controlled region in Syria at 08.05 a.m. GMT, the Dogan news agency reported.
Turkish artillery and war planes pounded YPG sites around Afrin and a total of 153 targets, including YPG refuges and weapons stores have now been hit, according to the Army.
In a sign of risk to Turkey, four rockets fired by the YPG hit the border town of Kilis early on Sunday, damaging one building and lightly wounding a woman.
“No one lost their life,” Kilis Governor Mehmet Tekinarslan said, quoted by Dogan. “They can fire one rocket at us and we will fire 100 back. There is no need to worry.”
Other countries react
Turkey risks entering a diplomatic minefield with its action in Syria and the Foreign Ministry lost no time in inviting the Ambassadors of all major powers to be briefed on the offensive.
The Ministry said it had even informed Damascus through its Istanbul consulate. But the Syrian regime, which is at odds with Turkey, strongly denied this, denouncing the operation as a “brutal Turkish aggression”.
The Russian Foreign Ministry voiced concern and urged Turkey to show restraint. And the Defence Ministry said its troops were withdrawing from the Afrin area to ensure their security and prevent any “provocation”.
By:
Reuters | Oncupinar | Published: January 21, 2018 6:00 pm
A Turkish military convoy arrives at a village on the Turkish-Syrian border in Kilis province, Turkey, January 21, 2018 (Reuters)
http://indianexpress.com/article/wo...northern-syria-after-border-town-hit-5033693/
Turkey continued to fire artillery at a US-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria on Sunday, after Turkey’s state media said four rockets from Syria had hit a Turkish border town. The cross-border fire marked the second day of Turkey’s new front in the nearly seven-year-old Syrian civil war. Under “Operation Olive Branch”, Turkish airstrikes on Saturday pounded positions of the Syrian-Kurdish YPG militia in the northern Afrin province.
A Reuters reporter at the Oncupinar gate on the Turkish side of the border with Syria, could hear the boom of outgoing artillery, with one being fired roughly every three minutes. Military convoys were travelling near the gate, with one transporter carrying several tanks.
“In its second day, #OliveBranchOperation continues to ensure peace and security for our people, protect Syria’s territorial integrity and eliminate all terrorist elements in the region,” Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said on Twitter. “Turkey expects its allies to support its fight against terrorism in all of its forms.” Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency earlier reported that four rockets fired from Syria hit the border town of Kilis overnight, damaging houses.
Turkish security forces retaliated in kind, it said. The operation pits Turkey against Kurdish fighters allied to the United States at a time when ties between Turkey and Washington – NATO allies and members of the coalition against Islamic State – appear dangerously close to a breaking point.
Saturday’s strikes on the Syrian-Kurdish YPG militia hit some 108 targets, the Turkish military said. On land, the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army rebels were also helping the operation in Afrin, Turkish officials have said.
Turkey sees the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has carried out a deadly, three-decade insurgency in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast. The United States is backing the YPG in Syria, seeing it as an effective partner in the fight against Islamic State.
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Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army fighters are seen at a training camp in Azaz, Syria.(Reuters Photo)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...ks-repulsed/story-PBObwXP4BLzS759JSQDs0M.html
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the Turkish military, NATO’s second-largest, would create a 30-km (19-mile) “safe zone” in the region, according to broadcaster HaberTurk.
“Our jets took off and started bombing. And now the ground operation is underway. Now we see how the YPG ... are fleeing in Afrin,” President Tayyip Erdogan said. “We will chase them. God willing, we will complete this operation very quickly.”
Around 25,000 Free Syrian Army rebels are taking part in the operation with the goal of recapturing Arab towns and villages seized by the YPG almost two years ago, a rebel commander said.
Major Yasser Abdul Rahim said the rebels did not seek to enter the mainly Kurdish city of Afrin but encircle it and expel the YPG, which controls it.
A main goal of the military operation was to recapture Tel Rifaat, a town southeast of Afrin, and a string of Arab villages the YPG captured from rebels in February 2016, driving out tens of thousands of inhabitants, Abdul Rahim told Reuters.
ROCKET HITS TURKISH TOWN
A rocket fired across the border from Syria hit the Turkish border town of Reyhanli on Sunday, killing a Syrian national and wounding 32 people, broadcaster NTV reported the town’s mayor as saying. CNN Turk said three rockets in total had been fired across the border towards Reyhanli.
Erdogan said some of Turkey’s allies had provided the YPG with 2,000 plane shipments and 5,000 truckloads of ammunition, comments that appeared to be aimed at the United States.
The attacks follow weeks of warnings against the YPG in Syria from Erdogan and his ministers. Turkey has been particularly outraged by an announcement that the United States planned to train 30,000 personnel in parts of northeast Syria under the control of the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters anyone who opposed the action in Afrin was siding with terrorists and would be treated accordingly.
He said Ankara expected France to support Turkey’s operation, after France asked Ankara to act with restraint and said it would call an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army rebel factions had captured a Kurdish village with no resistance and were clearing landmines, a Turkish official said.
The YPG said it had repulsed the Turkish forces.
“All the Turkish military’s ground attacks against Afrin have been repelled so far and they have been forced to retreat,” Nouri Mahmoudi, a YPG official, said. Since the morning, the combatants have exchanged shelling and clashed along several frontlines around Afrin, he said.
Thousands rallied against the attacks in the border town of Amuda in northwest Syria, vowing to stand against “Turkish occupation”, according to a local witness.
The Turkish military said it had hit targets including hideouts used by Kurdish militants. The YPG said Turkey’s strikes killed some civilians and accused Turkey of striking civilian districts and a camp for displaced people in Afrin.
Western governments have largely urged calm, with the United States saying the focus should be on fighting Islamic State in Syria.
Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war, will demand in the United Nations that Turkey halt it’s operation in Afrin, RIA news quoted a member of the Russian parliament’s security committee as saying on Saturday.
TRAINING CAMP
At a training camp near the border, about 200 fighters from the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army factions drilled on a parade ground, some in different khaki-coloured uniforms, some in jeans. Lieutenant-colonel Mohammad al Hamadeen, a rebel spokesman, said a ground offensive was due to begin within hours against the YPG.
“The military operation started this morning with the invasion of the northwestern areas of Afrin. And they will start in the eastern area of Afrin,” he told Reuters.
A Reuters reporter on the outskirts of the northern Syrian town of Azaz, under the control of Free Syrian Army factions, heard several blasts and saw smoke rising from a hill to the west, where a fighter said the YPG were.
There were no signs of conflict in the town itself, where life appeared to continue as normal with traffic on the muddy, potholed roads and uniformed rebel police at the main roundabouts. At a car repair workshop on the outskirts of the town some men were fixing a gun-loaded vehicle.
On Saturday, a Pentagon official said: “We encourage all parties to avoid escalation and to focus on the most important task of defeating ISIS (Islamic State).”
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that four rockets fired from Syria hit the border town of Kilis overnight, damaging houses. Turkish security forces retaliated, it said.
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http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/wo...-far-in-northern-syrian-operation/531993.html
ISTANBUL, January 21
The Turkish military has so far hit 153 Kurdish militant targets in its operation in northern Syria's Afrin region, the army said in a statement on Sunday.
The targets were shelters, hideouts and arsenals used by the militants, the military said, adding that artillery fire continued from the ground.
Reuters
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http://www.arabnews.com/node/1230656/middle-east
BEIRUT: Syria’s main opposition group said it will send a delegation Monday to regime ally Russia to discuss with officials Moscow’s “real stance” on the Syrian political process.
The visit by the Syrian Negotiations Commission (SNC) comes as Moscow gets set to host peace talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on January 30 along with Syrian regime backer Iran and rebel supporter Turkey.
The SNC has said it will attend fresh UN-hosted negotiations before then but has not yet announced if it will also go to the Sochi talks, which dozens of rebel factions have already rejected.
A statement by the SNC said Monday’s visit was “in response to an invitation by the Russian foreign ministry” and that its delegation will hold talks with the foreign and defense ministers as well as members of parliament.
The visit aims at “understanding Russia’s real stance toward the political process, since it is a partner in the conflict, a godfather of talks with Syria and a guarantor of de-escalation zones,” it said.
SNC spokesman Yahya Al-Aridi told AFP the opposition wanted “simply to make sure that Russia is serious about the entire peace process,” particularly UN-led talks.
Numerous rounds of UN-brokered peace talks have been held in Geneva, and the last one concluded in mid-December with no notable progress toward ending the country’s war.
They are to resume January 25-26, this time in Vienna, ahead of the Sochi talks.
Key players Russia, Iran and Turkey have been sponsoring parallel peace talks since the start of last year that have looked to still the fighting.
The Sochi meeting is now part of a broader push by Moscow to start hammering out a path to a political solution to end the war and has sparked concerns that the Kremlin is looking to sideline the UN.
The Damascus government has said it would attend the Sochi talks, which are aimed at setting up a new constitution for post-war Syria.
Syria’s nearly seven-year war, which began as the regime brutally crushed anti-government protests, has claimed more than 340,000 lives, forced millions to flee their homes and left the country in ruins.
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http://www.arabnews.com/node/1230566/middle-east
Thirty-two Turkish planes destroyed a total of 45 targets including ammunition dumps and refuges used by the YPG on the second day of the operation, the Turkish army said.
Turkish troops were advancing alongside forces from the Ankara-backed rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) and were already five kilometers (three miles) inside Syria, state media said.
An AFP photographer saw more Turkish tanks lined up at the border waiting to cross into Syrian territory.
In a sign of the risks to Turkey, six rockets fired from Syria hit the Turkish border town of Reyhanli Sunday, killing one Syrian refugee and wounding 32 people, its mayor said.
Earlier, several rockets hit the Turkish border town of Kilis without causing fatalities.
The operation is Turkey’s second major incursion into Syria during the seven-year civil war after the August 2016-March 2017 Euphrates Shield campaign in an area to the east of Afrin, against both the YPG and Daesh.
Crucial is the attitude of Russia, which has a military presence in the area and is also working with Turkey on a drive to end the civil war.
The Russian foreign ministry voiced concern and urged Turkey to show restraint, while the defense ministry said its troops were withdrawing from the Afrin area to ensure their security and prevent any “provocation.”
The Turkish foreign ministry said it had informed the Syrian regime — through its Istanbul consulate — of the operation despite being at odds with Damascus throughout the civil war.
But the Syrian foreign ministry strongly denied this and President Bashar Assad slammed the offensive as “support for terrorism.”
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/turkish-army-takes-control-of-11-pyd-pkk-positions-/1038072
Turkish Armed Forces on Sunday took control of 11 PYD/PKK positions and created safe zones during Operation Olive Branch in Syria's northwestern Afrin region.
According to an Anadolu Agency correspondent on the field, Turkish army backed by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) captured Afrin’s Shankal, Qorne, Bali, Adah Manli villages and Kita, Kordo and Bibno rural areas along with four other hills.
In the first day of the ground operation, which started in the early hours of Sunday, Turkish army surrounded Afrin from northern, northwestern and western sides.
To address the people of Afrin, the FSA fighters released a video on the social media in which they can be heard saying: “You are our friends and family. We are here to end the persecution. [PYD/PKK] is our mutual enemy.”
The Turkish Army and the FSA have not encountered any resistance at first and the opposition forces caught some terrorists alive in a few villages of Afrin’s Rajo town.
Turkish jets and ground forces hit several positions of PYD/PKK in Afrin including Malikiyah in Tal Rifaat, east of Afrin.
The terrorist groups, meanwhile, continued targeting civilians and attacked Jibrin village in Azaz district, killing two civilians.
The FSA fighters in Azaz district were preparing for the operation.
The ground forces are expected to advance towards Afrin from different directions.
Terrorist attacks continue
On Sunday, a Syrian national and about 50 people were injured in cross-border rocket attacks in southern Turkey, according to governor of Hatay.
Buildings and vehicles were damaged in the attack.
Turkey’s southeastern province of Kilis was also hit by four rockets launched from Afrin.
The rockets which were launched by PYD/PKK terrorist members in Afrin, hit four houses in central Kilis’ Ekrem Cetin and Baris neighborhoods.
Seven people, including two Syrian nationals, were injured in the attack.
The attack, which also damaged buildings and vehicles, was responded by Turkish artillery units stationed in the region.
Kilis was first hit by four rockets on early Sunday, which struck a neighborhood in city center and slightly injured one Turkish citizen.
The attacks came after Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to remove PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin.
According to Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkish borders and the region as well as to protect the Syrian people from the oppression and cruelty of terrorists.
The operation was being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council’s decisions, self-defense rights under the UN charter and respect to Syria's territorial integrity, it said.
The military also said the "utmost importance" was being given to not harm any civilian.
Afrin has been a major hideout for the PYD/PKK since July 2012 when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without putting up a fight.
http://aa.com.tr/en/todays-headline...ositions-which-target-southern-turkey/1038085
Turkish army has destroyed two PYD/PKK positions in northwestern Syria, which were used to carry out rocket attacks in southern Turkey that targeted civilians.
PYD/PKK terrorist group had carried out 11 rocket attacks earlier on Sunday, killing a Syrian national and injuring 46 others, including 16 Syrians, in Reyhanli district of Hatay province.
After spotted by target acquisition radars, Turkish jets launched an airstrike and destroyed the PYD/PKK positions.
Turkish jets’ retaliation came during Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch launched on Saturday to remove the PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin.
According to Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkish borders and the region as well as to protect the Syrian people from the oppression and cruelty of terrorists.
The operation was being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council’s decisions, self-defense rights under the UN charter and respect to Syria's territorial integrity, it said.
The military also said the "utmost importance" was being given to not harm any civilian.
Afrin has been a major hideout for the PYD/PKK since July 2012 when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without putting up a fight.
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http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/turkish-jets-destroy-45-terror-targets-in-syrias-afrin/1037874
By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet
ANKARA
Turkish jets destroyed 45 more targets of PYD/PKK as part of Operation Olive Branch in Syria's Afrin region on Sunday, Turkish General Staff said in a statement.
The statement said destroyed targets included shelters, ammunition depots and weapon emplacements belonging to the terrorist group.
A total of 32 jets which participated in the operation returned to their bases safely, it added.
Turkey on Saturday launched Operation Olive Branch to remove PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG and Daesh terror groups from Afrin.
On Saturday, Turkish General Staff said the airstrikes destroyed 108 targets of the terrorist group at seven different areas in Afrin.
The operation was being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council’s decisions, self-defense rights under the UN charter and respect to Syria's territorial integrity, the Turkish General Staff has said.
The military also said only terrorist targets were being destroyed and "utmost importance" was being given to not harm any civilian. The PYD/PKK is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.
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http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/operation-olive-branch-to-create-30-km-deep-safe-zone/1037992
"First goal [of the operation] is to create a safe area there and then we can take concrete steps to eliminate terrorist elements," Binali Yildirim told media representatives in Istanbul.
He said there are 8,000-10,000 terrorists in Afrin and Turkey would clear all the terrorists on its borders.
Yildirim said Russia and Iran were informed about Turkish plan ahead of the operation.
"There is confusion in U.S. [regarding the operation]. Everyone speaks different things," he said, adding that they also did not voice a firm opposition to the operation.
Turkey on Saturday launched Operation Olive Branch to remove PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG and Daesh terror groups from Afrin.
The operation was being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council’s decisions, self-defense rights under the UN charter and respect to Syria's territorial integrity, the military added.
The military also said only terrorist targets were being destroyed and "utmost importance" was being given to not harm any civilian.
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http://aa.com.tr/en/europe/russia-us-creating-bodies-of-authority-in-syria/1036134
Russia is concerned about the fact that the U.S. is seriously engaged in developing "alternative bodies of authority" on a huge part of the Syrian territory, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday.
“A couple of days ago, the Americans announced the creation of security forces on the border in Syria. Today they say that they are misunderstood [...]. But it is the fact that the U.S. is seriously engaged in developing alternative bodies of authority on a huge part of the Syrian territory. It is against their own commitments to the territorial integrity of Syria to which they subscribed. We are concerned about that,” said Lavrov.
Lavrov also refuted claims that Russian troops had withdrawn from Afrin.
Earlier reports had said that Russian troops had left Afrin in connection with Turkey's plans to launch an operation against the PYD/PKK.
The anticipated offensive is expected to be waged along the lines of last year's Operation Euphrates Shield, in which the Turkey-backed FSA successfully cleared northern Syria of terrorist elements.
Turkey shares a 911-kilometer (roughly 566-mile) border with Syria, which has only just begun to emerge from a devastating war that began in 2011.
An estimated 65 percent of the Turkey-Syria border is currently controlled by the PYD/PKK.
In 2011, Syria's Assad regime handed Afrin over to the PYD/PKK and there are now between 8,000 and 10,000 terrorists in the area, according to information obtained by Anadolu Agency.
The PYD/PKK is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.
Since the mid-1980s, the PKK has waged a wide-ranging terror campaign against the Turkish state in which an estimated 40,000 people have been killed.
More than 1,200 security personnel have been martyred since July 2015 alone when the group resumed its armed campaign against the Turkish state following a fragile cease-fire.
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http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/tu...ion-into-ypg-militants-in-syrias-afrin-126031
Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar, who commanded the air operation from the General Staff headquarters in Ankara, went to the southern border province of Hatay on Jan. 21 to inspect units taking part in the Afrin operation.
Eight F-16 fighter jets took off from the Diyarbakır 8th Main Jet Base within 20 minutes at around 12:42 p.m. local time, Doğan News Agency reported.
Fighter jets also took off from Konya’s 3rd Main Jet Base. Military sources told daily Hürriyet that FSA units backed by Turkish tanks are advancing on the field and YPG militants are withdrawing to villages and towns without putting up serious resistance.
Three missile attacks hit Reyhanlı on the Syria border in Turkey’s southeast on Jan. 21, Doğan News Agency reported.
“In the recent period our borders have been exposed to harassment more than 700 times. Last night six rockets were fired into Kilis. No one has lost their lives, the location of the rockets was determined and they were destroyed,” PM Yıldırım said before the latest attack.
By the evening of Jan. 20, the military said it had struck almost all of its targets in the area, adding that the 72 fighter jets that took part in the operation had safely returned to their bases.
“Out of the 113 PYD targets, 108 have been destroyed as of 18:30 [15:30 GMT]. All the killed and wounded people, who have been sent to hospitals, are members of terrorist groups,” read the statement from the Turkish General Staff.
The next day, on Jan. 21, the Turkish General Staff said 153 targets were hit in an operation carried out “with respect for Syria’s territorial integrity” and stemming from Turkey’s rights under international law.
The Air Forces also hit the Menagh Military Airbase in northwestern Syria, which the U.S. used for supplying weapons to the YPG.
The Turkish Red Crescent has built up a tent camp in Azez in the east of Afrin as a precautionary measure in advance of a possible human flow.
The Turkish military stated that the YPG is “using civilians in Afrin as a human shield,” while the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) has also reportedly confirmed that the YPG is “trying to depict the militants hit by military operations as civilians.”
“Thousands of pro-Turkey civilians have escaped the PKK/YPG-controlled areas in an attempt to reach Aleppo. Our assessment is that the PKK/YPG would like to use civilians as a human shield and blame potential civilian casualties on Turkey,” one official told the Hürriyet Daily News.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/rockets-from-syria-injure-37-in-southern-turkey-state-media-126059
A total of thirty seven people were injured in cross-border rocket attacks in southern Turkey on Jan. 21, according to governor of Hatay.
Three rockets fired from across the border landed in Reyhanlı district in southern Hatay province.
"37 people were wounded by rockets launched from Syria. 31 out of them are discharged after outpatient treatment, while four are critically wounded," Hatay Governor Erdal Ata told reporters after visiting the wounded people.
One of the rockets hit a house on Rıfat Bahadırlı Street in Reyhanlı and the other one hit a workplace at Cumhuriyet Street, according to initial reports.
At the same time, another rocket hit Tayfur Sokmen Street.
Later, another rocket also hit the roof of a four-story apartment, according to initial reports.
Fire brigades, security forces and Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) teams are sent to the area.
Buildings and vehicles were damaged in the attack.
Communication with regional envoys
The Turkish Foreign Ministry is keeping ambassadors from several countries in the region informed about the operation, according to a Turkish diplomatic source.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also spoke on the phone with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on Jan. 21, to inform him about Turkey’s military engagements in Syria’s Afrin.
The ambassadors of Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were also invited to the ministry for a briefing on Jan. 21, along with the EU ambassador to Ankara.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Jan. 20 summoned Russia and the U.S.’s top Ankara-based diplomats to inform them about the ongoing military operation in Syria’s northwestern Afrin province. Turkey has also invited the Iranian ambassador to Ankara.
With diplomatic channels unusually busy following the announcement of the Turkish military operation dubbed “Operation Olive Branch” by the Turkish army, Çavuşoğlu has held talks with U.S. counterpart Rex Tillerson in the wake of the announcement at Washington’s request.
Ambassadors from the three remaining permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – Britain, France and China – will also be summoned, with Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Kaan Esener set to conduct the talks.
Syrian regime notified on operation: Turkey
Turkey has notified the Syrian regime about the Afrin operation through letters, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Jan. 20 in a televised interview with T24.
Turkey had to reach out to Syria, a U.N. member, even if only through letters, Çavuşoğlu said in another interview with broadcaster NTV on the same day.
