Afrinpost – Special
On January 25, 2018, the Turkish invasion of the Muslim Brotherhood militia, known as the “Syrian National Army / Free Army”, continued on its sixth day, in the Kurdish region of Afrin in northern Syria, with the aim of depriving its residents of their legitimate right to manage themselves. Within the political system they created under the name of “self-administration”, which managed to protect them from the fierce civil war that had raged for seven years on the outskirts of Afrin, where the people of Afrin from the Syrian Democratic Forces did not allow the diversion of terrorists and hidden extremists under the names of (revolution and freedom) To their territory , In order to sabotage and the destruction of the social fabric of the Syrian, service to the ambitions of the Turkish occupation seeking to restore the Ottoman Empire.
Politically ..
Erdogan announced his intention to go ahead with the military operation against Afrin from northern Syria and stated in a speech in Ankara that the Turkish army and the Muslim Brotherhood militants who are known as the “Free Army” are gradually regaining control of Afrin.
The Turkish occupation army continued to send its military reinforcements to Afrin, as part of the olive branch battle, and the Turkish media reported that trucks carrying tanks and armored personnel carriers coming from various Turkish states are heading to Hatay, which borders the border with Syria, with the aim of strengthening the military units deployed on the border .. Some military vehicles have already headed to the Afrin region to join the military units clearing the area. Meanwhile, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin called in an interview with CNN that Washington should recover all the weapons it had provided to the YPG fighters in the past two years.
Concurrently, deputies in the European Parliament stressed that the Turkish regime’s aggression against Afrin constitutes a violation and a departure from international law aimed at spreading terror in the city not fighting it, and the parliamentarians indicated in a press conference held on the initiative of the “United European Left Group” and quotes from it quoted by “AKI” agency The news that Turkey is “seeking to destroy the model of peace and diversity that exists in Afrin and northern Syria,” stressing that the Turkish aggression “represents a departure from international law and its aim is to spread terror and terrorism as Turkish forces target civilians and infrastructure primarily.”
German Parliamentarian Gabi Zimmer stressed that “all countries and institutions must act and demand Turkey to withdraw its forces from Afrin,” adding that “it is shameful that we witness this European weakness at a time when civilians are being targeted”, expressing his shock at the way the international community deals with military aggression The Turkish is against Afrin, and other participants at the press conference stated that Turkey is the one that seeks to stoke the situation and escalate the violence by pushing elements of al-Qaeda into its forces, stating that “Turkey is spreading terrorism in Afrin and does not fight it as it claims.”
The deputies also called on European institutions to immediately freeze partnership negotiations with Turkey, making it clear that they do not see any “opportunity for Ankara to join the united rider.” The deputies criticized the high representative of the European Union for Security and Foreign Policy Federica Mogherini, describing her position on the Turkish aggression as “weak and insufficient”.
To that, the Democratic Self-Administration in Afrin confirmed that the Syrian state had not fulfilled its duty towards the Turkish aggression on the region, and this came in a statement of the Self-Administration in Afrin, on 25/1/2018, in which it said that “Afrin is an integral part of Syria, And that our forces and the People’s Protection Units have been performing their national duty for the past 6 years, protecting the region against the attacks of ISIS and other terrorist groups from al-Qaeda and others and contributing to protecting the territorial integrity of Syria and its national institutions.
The statement pointed out that Afrin is now subject to “a brutal external aggression by the Turkish state, which threatens the territorial integrity of Syria and the security and life of the civilian citizens residing in the Afrin region, and that the goal of this aggression is to cut more Syrian lands by occupying the Afrin area”, The statement called on “the Syrian state to carry out its sovereign duties towards Afrin, protect its borders with Turkey from the attacks of the Turkish occupier, and deploy its Syrian armed forces to secure the borders of Afrin region.”
militarily..
The Turkish invasion army continued to bomb the positions of the People’s Protection Units and the Syrian Democratic Forces in Afrin countryside, amid slow progress by the invading forces, due to inclement weather and resistance to the fighters.
Turkish planes launched for the sixth consecutive day a series of air strikes and simultaneously shelled Turkish artillery and tanks stationed at the border in Hatay Province, assumed locations of SDF, and the pro-Turkish forces and the Muslim Brotherhood said that the militants of what is known as the “Free Army” had managed to cut off Afrin Raju After controlling a group of hills in Afrin.
The clashes took place in the regions of Qastal Jendou (northeast of Afrin), the regions of Bulbul and Raju (north and northwest) and other axes in Sheikh Hadid and Ginderes, all the way to the village of Hammam southwest of Afrin, and confrontations continue in Jabal Parsakhaton / Persaya.
The so-called Turkish Prime Minister called “Ben Ali Yildirim” in Ankara spoke of the neutralization of more than 300 fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which in turn spoke of more than 200 Turkish military deaths, knowing that Ankara had only admitted the killing of three of its soldiers.
Yildirim again claimed that his country would not allow the establishment of what he called a terrorist entity on the borders of his country, which extends for 1,350 kilometers from Iran to the Mediterranean, criticizing American support for SDF.
The new Turkish Prime Minister’s statements include a hint of the possibility of expanding the current military operation to the city of Manbij, which is located in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, west of the Euphrates River, 100 km east of Afrin.
Sites loyal to the Turkish invasion said that the Muslim Brotherhood’s gunmen, known as the “Free Syrian Army / Syrian National Army”, had occupied hills in the Raju area of Afrin, and armed sources from the region said that the Islamic militias occupied the entire hills surrounding the Raju region in continuous battles since the evening of two days And the villages of Shekheruzih, north of Afrin, in addition to Adama , Amara, and Hammam village from the Ginderes axis, as well as the villages of Sheikh, Bassi, Marso / Marso and Haftaru / Haftar in the “Bulbula / Bulbul” side.
In turn, the Turkish invasion forces sent elements of the Special Forces in order to participate in the battle of the “Olive Branch”, where 200 elements were sent from the command of the 49th Special Forces Brigade, Bingol state, and took dogs trained to detect mines and explosives.
On the other side, the “Syrian Democratic Forces” (SDF) spoke of “international volunteers” joining its ranks in the face of Turkish forces that invaded the Syrian territories, and said that fighters from the United States, Germany and other countries are participating in the fight against Turkish forces in Afrin.
“There was a desire among foreign fighters who fought in Raqqa and were fighting in Deir Al-Zor to go to Afrin,” Reuters news agency quoted a senior official in the Qasd, Ridor Khalil. However, he refused to specify the timing of the arrival of these foreign fighters in Afrin, saying that their numbers are estimated in tens. “They will wage battles against the Turkish invasion,” he added.
A British fighter had told the BBC earlier that he was going to Afrin in the company of about 20 other foreign fighters. A number of Westerners had joined QSD before to help, they said, in the fight against ISIS in Syria, and Khalil accused Ankara of promoting “lies” about the presence of ISIS operatives in Afrin, in order to mislead international public opinion. He said: “The whole world knows that ISIS does not exist in Afrin.”
He pointed out that the Turkish army greatly exaggerated the number of “People’s Protection Units” and “Syrian Democratic Forces” fighters who fell in the Turkish “olive branch” operation that has been continuing in Afrin since last Saturday, but he refrained from mentioning the number of martyrs, saying: “Yes there are martyrs There are dead people among the YPG and the Syrian Democratic Forces, but I reserve the number. ”He explained that the“ Syrian Democratic Forces ”killed dozens of Turkish soldiers and militants allied with them from the Muslim Brotherhood militants known as the“ Free Syrian Army ”, without mentioning a specific number to them. .
In connection with this, military sources reported violent clashes in the village of Hammam of the district of Gendiris and its environs. According to a statement by the Syrian Democratic Forces, the forces were able to repel the attack by the Turkish forces and their allies on their positions on a hill adjacent to the village of Qastal Jendu.
REX news agency, quoting a Kurdish source, said that the YPG fighters shot down a Turkish military plane in Afrin area. While Turkish aircraft bombed more than 170 targets in Afrin
