AFRIN: Turkish airstrikes pounded the Syrian border region of Afrin and fighting raged on two fronts as Ankara pursued its offensive against the Kurdish enclave on Tuesday.
A monitoring group and Kurdish sources said Turkey’s air force had stepped up its raids on the 10th day of operation “Olive Branch,” which sees Turkey providing air and ground support to Syrian opposition fighters in an offensive against Kurdish militia in northwestern Syria.
Turkish jets were hitting Kurdish positions in the towns of Rajo and Jandairis, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
Syrian opposition backed by Turkey “were engaged in fierce battles against Kurdish forces” in the two towns, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Observatory.
“Turkey’s aerial campaign against Afrin has escalated since Monday,” he added.
A spokesman for the YPG, which Ankara considers a “terror” group, said the strikes had been relentless.
At least 85 YPG militiamen have died, the Observatory says, as have 81 fighters from the opposition groups fighting with Turkish backing.
Turkey said seven of its soldiers have been killed.
Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported on Tuesday that two villages in the Afrin region had been “cleared” of the YPG.
Turkey and allied forces have made gains in the offensive and on Sunday seized control of Mount Barsaya, a strategically important high point near the town of Afrin.
A Turkish military convoy of dozens of vehicles crossed the border overnight, the Observatory said. It initially headed toward an area south of Afrin but was forced to change course after coming under fire from forces loyal to President Bashar Assad’s regime.
Turkish authorities have cracked down on criticism of the operation and on Tuesday detained all the top members of the country’s main medical association, including its chief.
The arrests came after the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) issued a statement saying that “war is a man-made public health problem.”
Turkish airstrikes pound Kurdish fighters
Turkish airstrikes pound Kurdish fighters
Kurds in Turkiye protest over Syria Aleppo offensive
- Several hundred people gathered in Diyarbakir while hundreds more joined a protest in Istanbul
- In the capital, Ankara, DEM lawmakers protested in front of the Turkish parliament
DIYARBAKIR, Turkiye: Protesters rallied for a second day in Turkiye’s main cities on Thursday to demand an end to a deadly Syrian army offensive against Kurdish fighters in Aleppo, an AFP correspondent said.
Several hundred people gathered in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkiye’s main Kurdish-majority city, while hundreds more joined a protest in Istanbul that was roughly broken up by riot police who arrested around 25 people, the pro-Kurdish DEM party said.
In the capital, Ankara, DEM lawmakers protested in front of the Turkish parliament, denouncing the targeting of Kurds in Aleppo as a crime against humanity.
The protesters demanded an end to the operation by Syrian government forces against the Kurdish-led SDF force in Aleppo, where at least 21 people have been killed in three days of violent clashes.
It was the worst violence in the northwestern city since Syria’s Islamist authorities took power a year ago. The fighting erupted as both sides struggled to implement a March agreement to integrate autonomous Kurdish institutions into the new Syrian state.
In Istanbul, hundreds of protesters waving flags braved heavy rain near Galata Tower to denounce the Aleppo operation under the watchful eye of hundreds of riot police, an AFP correspondent said.
But some of the slogans drew a sharp warning from the police, who moved to roughly break up the gathering and arrested some 25 people, DEM’s Istanbul branch said.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the police attack on the Rojava solidarity action in Sishane. This brutal intervention, oppression, and violence against our young comrades is unacceptable!” the party wrote on X, demanding the immediate release of those arrested.
At the Diyarbakir protest during the afternoon, protesters carried a huge portrait of the jailed PKK militant leader Abdullah Ocalan, an AFP video journalist reported.
“We urge states to act as they did for the Palestinian people, for our Kurdish brothers who are suffering oppression and hardship,” Zeki Alacabey, 64, told AFP in Diyarbakir.
Although Turkiye has embarked on a peace process with the PKK, it remains hostile to the SDF, which controls swathes of northeastern Syria, seeing it as an extension of the banned militant group and a major threat along its southern border.
It has repeatedly demanded that the SDF merge into the main Syrian military. A defense ministry official said on Thursday that Ankara was ready to “support” Syria’s operation against the Kurdish fighters if needed.
Demonstrators had already taken to the streets in several major Turkish cities with Kurdish majorities on Wednesday, including Diyarbakir and Van, according to images broadcast by the DEM.
