Turkey: The military attack on the Kurds in the city of Afrin has BEGUN

by The Right Scoop

Turkey has begun shelling the city of Afrin in Syria this morning from across the border. Afrin is a Kurdish enclave and it’s only about 15 or so miles from the border of Turkey. Erdogan accuses the Kurds of being terrorists and is trying to prevent them from creating a Kurdish state in the northern part of Syria:

The Daily Sabah in Arabic also confirms that the shelling has begun.



Before the attack begun, Turkey met with Russia yesterday who agreed to pull their troops out of Afrin before the attack:

The Russian military started to withdraw its forces from Syria’s Afrin Friday as Turkey prepares to carry out a military operation against the PKK-affiliated People’s Protection Units (YPG), Anadolu Agency reported Friday.

The Russian security forces deployed in northeast Kafr Jana region of Afrin city started leaving the area, according to reliable sources in Afrin.

Some of the Russian security assets have reached Nubl and Zahra towns, on the outskirts of Afrin, which were currently held by the Assad regime.

Meanwhile, another report by Anadolu Agency said the U.S. military stationed around 1,000 YPG terrorists in the Tal Abyad town along the Turkish border after conducting reconnaisance missions in the area.

The reports came shortly after Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli said that Russia informed Turkey about its plans to pull out its military assets from the Syrian district.

I also saw a report that Turkey was requesting Russian permission to fly air campaigns over Afrin, after Assad threatened to shoot down any Turkish aircraft attacking Afrin:

REUTERS – Turkey dispatched its military chief to Moscow on Thursday, seeking approval for an air campaign in Syria’s Kurdish-controlled Afrin region, although Damascus warned it could shoot down any Turkish planes in its skies.

Turkey’s foreign minister said the Moscow trip by Chief of Staff Hulusi Akar was part of talks with both Russia and Iran, the two main backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to allow Turkish planes to take part in an Afrin campaign.

The US cautioned Turkey yesterday not to attack Afrin:

U.S. State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert Thursday called on Turkey to refrain from a military operation in northern Syria’s Afrin against the against the PYD/YPG, which are the Syrian offspring of the PKK terror group.

“We would call … on the Turks to not take any actions of that sort. … We don’t want them to engage in violence but we want them to keep focused on Daesh,” Nauert said Thursday during a briefing.

Welp.


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