March 18, 2018
The Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria fell to the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA) on March 18.
“Did you see the weapons we seized? Did it help them? Was it of any use to them in the failed July 15 coup d’etat? We lost 251 brave soldiers, and another 2,193 were wounded, but we didn’t surrender to the terrorists. We maintain complete control over 911 kilometers of Turkish-Syrian border,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech to the nation.
Hundreds of civilians were among the 3,600 Kurds killed in the past 78 days. The Turkish military, however, denies bombing non-military targets.
According to Ali Javanmardi, a reporter for the (US Government-funded) Voice of America Radio (VOA), Turkish-backed rebels have been looting shops in Afrin. Quoting eyewitnesses, Javanmardi said on his Telegram page that the Turkish army had seized the personal properties of many of Afrin’s residents. Turkish military and rebel forces don’t allow reporters outside the city’s main square.
Some reports indicate sporadic explosions around the city. There are pockets of resistance in Afrin by the People’s Protection Units (Kurdish Militia in Syria, YPG), but Turkish flags are flying on top of the government buildings. The spokesman for the YPG said that the Kurdish militia had stopped fighting the Turkish army to prevent further bloodshed.
More than 150,000 people have fled the city. The Turkish army’s next target is Manbij, according to the Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet.
Social media is flooded with many heart-wrenching pictures of civilian casualties in Afrin. Internet users in Iran plan to start a Twitter storm with the #Afrin (hashtag) to alert the United Nations to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Syrian city.
Police used tear gas against fans who were shouting anti-Turkish slogans during a football match between Sardar (of Bukan, Azerbaijan Province) and Shahrdari (of Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province.)
