Operation Olive Branch in pictures: Turkey's assault on Afrin, Kurdish enclave in Syria
Erdogan says the assault on Afrin is progressing "successfully" and will continue until the last "terrorist" is eliminated. But they are facing fierce resistance from the YPG.
Turkey's president says its incursion into the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin in Syria is progressing "successfully" and will continue until the last "terrorist" is eliminated. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters have killed at least 268 Syrian Kurdish fighters since the operation against Afrin was launched on 20 January. He said Turkish troops have suffered two losses.
However, Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said 48 Turkey-backed Syrian fighters with Free Syrian Army groups had been killed. And the death toll among the Kurdish YPG was so far at 42, he said.
Turkish artillery near Hassa shell People's Protection Units (YPG) positions over the Syrian border on 21 January 2018Bulent Kilic/AFP
The Turkish ground and air offensive on Afrin, codenamed "Operation Olive Branch", has raised tensions in the already-complicated Syrian conflict and threatened to further strain ties between Turkey and the US. Turkey says it aims to create a 30-kilometre (20-mile) deep "secure zone" in the Kurdish-controlled enclave on its border.
However, Erdogan has promised to expand the operation, threatening to push farther east to the town of Manbij to the east, which Kurdish fighters liberated from Isis in 2016. Erdogan said in Ankara that his country will "not take a step back". He repeated his criticism of Washington's support for the Kurdish militia, saying the US should have partnered with Turkey in fighting Isis.
Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters are pressing ahead with their operations in Afrin, approaching from three sides. Afrin is surrounded by Turkish-backed Syrian fighters, Turkish troops and Syrian government forces. The only road out of the enclave to government-controlled Aleppo has been closed by the Kurdish militia for security reasons.
People near the Turkish town of Hassa watch as smoke rises from Syria's Afrin region, on 20 January 2018Osman Orsal/Reuters20 January 2018: A cloud of dust and smoke erupts as Turkish planes conduct an air strike in Syria, as seen from the Turkish side of the borderBulent Kilic/AFPTurkish-backed fighters from the Free Syrian Army fire towards Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) positions in the village of Um al-Hosh, on 20 January 2018Nazeer al-Khatib/AFPA Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army fighter holds a makeshift Turkish flag as he patrols on a road near Azaz on 21 January 2018Osman Orsal/ReutersTurkish army tanks and troops gather in Hassa, near the Syrian border, on 21 January 2018Bulent Kilic/AFPA girl looks out of a car window at Turkish army tanks and soldiers gathering in Hassa, close to the Syrian border, on 21 January 2018Bulent Kilic/AFPA boy waves at Turkish armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles as they pass through the Bab al-Salamah border crossing from Turkey into Syria on 21 January 2018Nazeer al-Khatib/AFPTurkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters are congratulated as they walk through Syria near the border on 21 January 2018Bulent Kilic/AFPTurkey-backed Free Syrian Army fighters are seen at a training camp in Azaz on 21 January 2018Osman Orsal/ReutersA Turkish-backed Syrian rebel fighter uses a drone at a monitoring point near the Syrian village of Qilah, southwest of Afrin, on 22 January 2018Omar Haj Kadour/AFPTurkish-backed Syrian fighters take selfies near Mount Bersaya, east of Afrin, on 22 January 2018Nazeer al-Khatib/AFPTurkish-backed Free Syrian Army fighters take selfies near Mount Barsaya, northeast of Afrin, on 23 January 2018Khalil Ashawi/ReutersTurkish military tanks are seen in the mist on Mount Barsaya, northeast of Afrin, Syria, on 23 January 2018Khalil Ashawi/ReutersTurkish army tanks and armoured personnel carriers mass near the Syrian border in Hatay province, Turkey, on 23 January 2018Umit Bektas/ReutersEmpty shells are seen next to Turkish army tanks in Hatay province, on the Turkish side of the Syrian border, on 23 January 2018Umit Bektas/Reuters
But Turkish forces and its Syrian allies are meeting stiff resistance from the Kurdish militia. On Tuesday (23 January), the People's Defence Units (YPG) regained control of a village breached by Turkish forces. Turkish forces were also repelled from a hill they seized a day earlier on the eastern edge of the district. Kurdish militia spokesman Nureddine Mehmud said the YPG and allied militias had managed to prevent the Turkish forces from making "any real progress" in Afrin.
Syrian fighters hold up their weapons in the city of Hasaka on 20 January2018, during their graduation ceremony at the end of a US-led training programme aimed at forming a security force to patrol territory captured from Islamic StateDelil Souleiman/AFPKurds in the eastern Syrian town of Amuda protest against a military operation by the Turkish army against Kurdish YPG forces in Afrin, on 21 January 2018. The writing in Arabic reads: 'With the blood of our martyrs we will walk the path of everlasting victory'Delil Souleiman/AFPKurdish fighters brandish their weapons during a rally in Hasaka, northeastern Syria, on 23 January 2018Rodi Said/ReutersA fighter from the Kurdish self-defence forces brandishes his weapon during a rally in Hasaka, northeastern Syria, on 23 January 2018Rodi Said/ReutersFighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) look on during the funeral of a comrade in the Kurdish-majority town of Afrin on 23 January 2018Ahmad Shafia Bilal/AFP
Activists say Turkey has mobilised about 10,000 Syrian fighters to storm Afrin, with some stationed in Azaz, on the eastern edge of Afrin, and others to the south in Atmeh. There are an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Kurdish fighters in the enclave, home to about 800,000 civilians.
The United Nations says an estimated 5,000 people have fled the fighting. The UN says the displaced fled from areas near the border but are still inside the enclave. Authorities in Afrin have ordered the closure of exit points with surrounding areas, and are only allowing people to enter from Syrian government-held areas to the south, according to the UN.
At least 27 civilians, including eight children and four women, have been killed in the fighting in Afrin, mainly in Turkish airstrikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that monitors the civil war.
Turkish officials say 11 rockets launched from Syria have landed in Turkish towns along the border, killing at least one Syrian refugee and injuring 47.
A building that was hit by rockets fired from Syria is seen in the Turkish border town of Kilis on 21 January 2018Can Erok/Dogan News Agency/ReutersFevziye Demir cries after a rocket fired from Syria hit her house in Kilis, southern Turkey, on 23 January 2018Bulent Kilic/AFPBoys stand in front of a building in the border town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, Turkey, after it was hit by rockets fired from Syria, on 22 January 2018Umit Bektas/Reuters23 January 2018: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior politicians gather at Ahmet Hamdi Akseki Mosque in Ankara for the funeral ceremony for Turkish soldier Musa Ozalkan, 30, who was killed during an operation against Kurdish fighters in Kilis, as part of Operation Olive BranchAdem Altan/AFP22 January 2018: Syrian women who fled the bombardment of the southern Idlib and Aleppo countryside carry water at a newly-opened camp for displaced people near Bab al-Hawa, close to the Syrian side of the border with TurkeyIbrahim Yasouf/AFPCars travel on a street in the besieged Syrian town of Afrin, located in a Kurdish region bordering Turkey, on 22 January 2018Diyar Mostefa/AFPA view of the Kurdish-majority town of Afrin in northern Syria on 23 January 2018Ahmad Shafia Bilal/AFPFighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) look on during the funeral of a comrade in the Kurdish-majority town of Afrin on 23 January 2018Ahmad Shafia Bilal/AFPA wounded man lies on a stretcher at the Avrin hospital in the Kurdish-majority town of Afrin in northern Syria, on 23 January 2018, as Turkish troops and their Syrian rebel allies pressed their assault on the border enclaveAhmad Shafia Bilal/AFP
Rezan Hiddo, a Kurdish official in Afrin, said people are seeking shelter wherever they can find it. "The strikes are from aircraft, rocket launchers and artillery," he said. "This is causing townspeople to take cover in basements. People in the villages are hiding in their farms, while those in the mountains are taking cover in caves for protection."
