http://aa.com.tr/en/turkey/ypg-pkk-daesh-terrorist-groups-shell-southern-turkey/1069829
Daesh terrorist groups shelled Turkey's border province of Hatay on Wednesday, according to a military source.
Two mortar shells fired from Afrin region of northern Syria landed in Hatay's Kirikhan district, the source who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.
No casualties were reported.
Turkey responded immediately, the source added.
On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to clear YPG/PKK-Daesh terrorists from Afrin in northwestern Syria.
Since the start of the operation, the terrorist groups carried out cross-border attacks on Turkey by firing rockets and mortar shells on civilian neighborhoods.
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21.02.2018
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/syrias-embattled-eastern-ghouta-district-10-questions/1070045
By Selen Temizer
EASTERN GHOUTA, Syria
One of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century is now unfolding in Syria’s besieged Eastern Ghouta district, a suburb of Damascus.
Children in the 104-square-kilometer district have borne the brunt of a years-long siege and continued attacks by Syrian regime forces.
The following is a list of frequently asked questions regarding the ongoing calamity in Eastern Ghouta:
1.Where is Eastern Ghouta?
Eastern Ghouta is a suburb of the Syrian capital located roughly 10 kilometers east of central Damascus.
2. Who lives there?
The district is home to some 400,000 civilians, roughly half of whom are children under the age of 18.
3. Who is being killed?
Airstrikes and artillery barrages -- by both the Assad regime and the Russian military -- have resulted in numerous civilian deaths. Within the last three months alone, more than 700 civilians have been killed in Eastern Ghouta.
4. Does this death toll include civilian casualties?
Yes. Over the last three months, 109 women and 185 children have lost their lives in the regime-besieged district.
5. How does the siege affect daily life?
Eastern Ghouta has remained under a crippling regime siege for more than five years. In recent months, chronic food and medicine shortages have led to the death of numerous children, either from malnutrition or the lack of adequate medical care.
6. What kind of weapons are being used by the regime?
Syrian regime forces have used mortar shells, barrel bombs, cluster bombs, bunker-busting munitions and chemical weapons against the district’s civilian population.
7. How often has the regime used chemical weapons?
Since the conflict began in 2011, the regime has carried out 46 chemical attacks. On August 21, 2013, it carried out a sarin gas attack in Damascus that left more than 1,400 civilians dead. And within the last two months alone, it has used chlorine gas at least three times in the region.
Regime officials, for their part, claim that “terrorists” are using civilians as human shields.
8. Why is Eastern Ghouta strategically important?
The regime wants to crush all resistance -- especially resistance so close to the capital.
9. How has the UN reacted to the regime’s crimes?
UN Security Council member-states, meanwhile, have failed to take any concrete action, with the exception of occasional anodyne statements issued by mid-level UN officials.
10. Does the cease-fire agreement reached in Astana apply to Eastern Ghouta?
In May of last year, Turkey, Russia and Iran designated Eastern Ghouta as a “de-escalation zone” in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited. Nevertheless, Russia -- one of the truce’s three guarantor-states -- has failed to prevent the Assad regime from repeatedly violating the agreement’s terms.
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- February 21 2018 10:10:31
Nearly 1,800 YPG militants ‘neutralized’ in Afrin op: Turkish army
ANKARA
The Turkish General Staff said in a statement on Feb. 21 that a total of 1,780 militants have been “neutralized” since the start of “Operation Olive Branch” in the northwestern Syrian district of Afrin.
The authorities use the word “neutralized” in their statements to imply that the militants in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.
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If pro-regime [Syrian] forces enter the northern Syrian town of Afrin, where Turkey is carrying out a military operation, with a motive to help Turkey’s target – People’s Protection Units (YPG)—Turkish forces will respond, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Feb. 19.
“There is no problem if Syrian forces enter Afrin to get rid of the YPG or the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party]. But if they enter Afrin to protect the YPG, then no one can stop Turkish forces,” Çavuşoğlu said at a joint press conference in Jordan.
Syrian state television channel al-Ikhbariya TV said on Feb. 19 that pro-Syrian government forces would soon enter Afrin.
The operation will begin “within hours,” said al-Ikhbariya TV, citing its own correspondent.
The report followed claims by the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) that Syrian Kurdish forces and the Damascus government have reached an agreement for the Syrian army to enter the Afrin region.
On Jan. 20, the Turkish military, alongside elements of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), launched “Operation Olive Branch” to clear the YPG, the armed wing of the PYD, from Afrin. A total of 1,641 militants have been “neutralized” since the start of the operation, according to the Turkish military.
Turkey views the YPG as a terrorist group for its links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Badran Jia Kurd, an adviser to the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria, told Reuters that army troops would be deployed along some border positions and could enter the region within the next two days.
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military.
Although Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and the YPG have mostly avoided direct conflict, they have occasionally clashed.
The Syrian government has allowed some YPG militants to reach Afrin through its territory, representatives of both sides have told Reuters in recent weeks.
Russia, the main supporter of the al-Assad regime, cooperates with Turkey in diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the ongoing war in Syria.
Jakob Kern@JakobKern1961
