A recent report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) pointed to conscription and restrictions on freedom of movement by targeting adult males in the Democratic Union Party- (PYD) controlled Afrin region of Syria and stressed that local authorities are blocking those trying to flee.

"Local authorities in the Afrin district reportedly continue to block displacement out of Afrin district," the OCHA said in a report Wednesday, titled "Recent Developments in Northwestern Syria."

The U.N. report also said: "Family separation is reported because of displacement and conscription inside the Afrin district and additional restrictions on freedom of movement targeting adult males."

The OCHA added: "In regime-held areas, freedom of movement is made difficult due to the confiscation of personal documents for which IDPs [internally displaced people] are provided temporary documents and restrictions are imposed to prevent movement beyond Nabol and Zahraa. Reportedly 10 percent of IDPs do not have personal documentation."

Afrin has been a major center for the PYD and other terrorists since July 2012, when the Bashar Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terrorist group without a fight. The PYD and its armed People's Protection Units (YPG) are the Syrian affiliates of the PKK, which his designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and EU.

The U.N. report said that according to local sources, an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 people have been displaced from peripheral communities to central Afrin in recent weeks.

"IDPs are residing in houses belonging to relatives or in unfinished buildings. With more IDPs arriving, the central part of the district is becoming congested, putting pressure on services and businesses," the OCHA wrote in the report.

Touching on the humanitarian situation in PYD-controlled Afrin, the OCHA said: "Reportedly, most houses in Afrin are hosting several families. Schools, mosques and public buildings were opened to host new arrivals. The main needs of the IDPs include food baskets, mattresses, blankets, baby formula and medicine. Educational activities in the district are currently suspended."

In the face of growing threats to its national security, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch in Afrin on Jan. 20 with the aim to clear out terrorists along its borders. As the U.S. has not ended its support to the YPG to prevent the free fall of its relations with Turkey, Ankara launched the operation to ensure its security.

The operation is being carried out in line with international law, according to U.N. Security Council resolutions, the right to self-defense as enshrined in the U.N. Charter and with respect for Syria's territorial integrity.</s>ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish police detained leading members of several Kurdish and leftist parties on Friday, the co-leader of the main pro-Kurdish HDP party said, describing it as an attempt to hamper preparations for the annual HDP congress on Sunday.

Serpil Kemalbay, newly elected co-chairwoman of the Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), speaks during her party's extraordinary congress in Ankara, Turkey, May 20, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer

Co-leader Serpil Kemalbay herself was among facing 17 suspects facing arrest over their opposition to Turkey’s military offensive in neighbouring Syria, according to state-run Anadolu news agency.

Since the launch of the campaign in northwest Syria’s Afrin nearly three weeks ago, authorities have said they would arrest those who criticise or oppose it. So far, some 600 people have been detained for protests or for social media posts against the military action.

Ankara prosecutors sought the arrests on accusations that the suspects sought to stir street protests and clashes under the guise of opposition to the Afrin offensive, Anadolu said.

The HDP, parliament’s second-largest opposition party, is the only major political party to oppose the campaign - dubbed “Operation Olive Branch” - against the Kurdish YPG militia in Afrin.

“The aim of these illegal and arbitrary operations is to prevent our congress being held in a healthy way,” Kemalbay said, promising that the party meeting would go ahead.

In Friday’s raids, police detained the representatives and leaders of various left-wing and pro-Kurdish groups and political parties, Kemalbay said in a statement. She did not say how many were detained in total.

Kemalbay herself has not yet been detained and was still in the HDP headquarters in Ankara.

The HDP’s other co-leader, Selahattin Demirtas, is in jail over alleged links to Kurdish militants and is among many leading members of the party imprisoned on similar charges, which they have denied.

The YPG is designated by Ankara as a terrorist group and an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade-old insurgency on Turkish soil in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday Turkey would strip the word “Turkish” from the name of its main medical association after the group publicly opposed the campaign.</s>The state-run Anadolu news agency reported that HDP co-leader Serpil Kemalbay and 16 others were accused of stirring up broader unrest under the guise of lawfully protesting the Afrin offensive.

The HDP replied to the report by accusing Ankara of intending to interfere with the planned party conference scheduled for later in February. "We condemn and protest these unlawful arrests. We want our arrested friends to be released immediately," read a statement from Kemalbay on Friday.

The other leader of the HDP, Selahattin Demirtas, was arrested in November 2016 alongside numerous other party leaders and is awaiting trial. Ankara accused Demirtas of failing to cooperate with a counterterrorism investigation into the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish militant group that NATO has designated as a terrorist group.

Since 1984, the PKK has violently resisted Ankara's rule over the Turkish Kurds. The PKK continues to wage a guerrilla war against Turkey in the southeastern corner of the country, near the Syrian border.

The HDP holds 52 of the 550 seats in Turkey's unicameral parliament, the Grand National Assembly. This makes it the second-largest opposition party. The Republican People's Party, the party of the modern state's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, holds 131 seats, while the ruling Justice and Development Party holds an absolute majority with 316 seats.

The HDP was the only party to oppose the Afrin offensive against the People's Protection Brigades (YPG), a primarily Kurdish militia in Syria. Turkey has accused the YPG of being an extension of the PKK.

In January, tensions between the YPG and the Turkish military in Syria boiled over into Operation Olive Branch on January 20, when the Turks and their allies, the Free Syrian Army militia, attacked the YPG-held Syrian city of Afrin.

The battle is ongoing, with the Turks having made some progress and captured a few dozen small settlements. But the offensive has also had enormous domestic political ramifications, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatening YPG supporters not to protest Olive Branch.

"Know that wherever you go out on the streets our security forces are on your necks," Erdogan said in a speech on January 21. He warned that anyone who protested the anti-YPG operation would pay a "heavy price."

Ankara also instructed news outlets to only offer positive coverage of the attack and not to report on any alleged civilian casualties, war crimes, protests or any news that "boosts the morale of the [PKK]," according to Middle East Eye.

The situation is further complicated by the YPG acting as a proxy for the US in Syria. While the US considers the PKK to be a terrorist group, they deny any connection between them and the YPG, a source of strain between the NATO partners.

Erdogan threatened that, after Afrin falls, his forces will move to take the town of Manbij — a town that is currently under the control of both the YPG and the US military.</s>Turkish efforts in Afrin, Idlib will allow Syrians to return home

Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar inspected the ongoing Operation Olive Branch in northwestern Syria's Afrin region with fellow commanders-in-chief of armed forces from an airborne warning and control aircraft, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) said Friday in a written statement.

The military also announced Friday that 1062 terrorists had been "neutralized" since the beginning of the counter-terror operation.

The term "neutralized" is used in reference to terrorists captured dead or alive, or those who surrendered during the operations. However, the term is usually used for the terrorists who were killed in the operations.

One Turkish soldier was killed during Friday's operations, the statement added.

As Turkish warplanes continued to destroy shelters, hideouts and ammunition depots belonging to the PKK-linked People's Protection Units (YPG) and Daesh terrorists in northern Syria; tanks, Howitzers and multiple-launch rocket systems located in Reyhanlı district of southern Hatay province intensified bombardments.

Meanwhile, Turkish and Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces liberated five more villages in the Afrin region from YPG/PKK terrorists, the statement said.

Operation Olive Branch was launched by Turkey on Jan. 20 to remove the PKK/PYD/YPG/KCK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin in northwestern Syria.

According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkish borders and in the region as well as to protect Syrian people from the oppression and cruelty of terrorists.

The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey's rights within international law, U.N. Security Council resolutions, its right to self-defense under the U.N. charter and respect for Syria's territorial integrity, it said.

The military also said, "utmost importance" is being placed on not harming any civilians.

The operation in Afrin – bordering Turkey's Hatay and Kilis provinces – was widely expected in the wake of Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria, which cleared Daesh terrorists from Turkey's border between Aug. 24, 2016, and March 2017.

Afrin has been a major hideout for the YPG/PKK since July 2012 when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without putting up a fight.</s>Turkey has resumed air strikes in Syria’s Kurdish enclave of Afrin after a brief lull, killing and wounding several people.

Turkey has resumed air strikes in Syria’s Kurdish enclave of Afrin after a brief lull, killing and wounding several people.

The attacks on border areas and the main town in the region have been among the worst since the Turkish army and Ankara-backed opposition fighters began a ground and air campaign on the Afrin enclave three weeks ago, Kurdish officials said.

The offensive has displaced thousands of people, many of whom have gone to the town of Afrin, which is already crowded with tens of thousands of displaced people who fled violence in other parts of Syria over the years. The new bloodshed came as Russian president Vladimir Putin and French president Emmanuel Macron discussed co-operating more closely to resolve the Syrian conflict.

The civil war has killed about 400,000 people, displaced half the population and sent more than five million refugees mostly to neighbouring countries. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said F-16 jets resumed bombing on Thursday night, striking the north-western enclave’s Mount Bafilun, the villages of Sheik Huruz and Kefer Jenne, and the regions of Sheran, Jinderes and Raju, among other targets.

Turkey’s military said its jets hit 19 targets, including shelters, ammunition depots and gun positions belonging to “terror” organisations. No planes were brought down. Afrin-based Kurdish official Rezan Hiddo said by telephone that Turkish warplanes hit 23 points, adding that Turkey’s artillery in three areas near Afrin has also been pounding the town.

Mr Hiddo said: “For the past 21 days, the Turkish army has been violating all laws related to war.” Separately, the Turkish chief of military staff, General Hulusi Akar, and other commanders surveyed the operation from an airborne warning and control plane, the military said.

Unconfirmed Turkish media reports said Turkey had halted flights after Russia closed the airspace over Afrin after militants shot down a Russian Su-25 fighter jet in Idlib province on February 3. Russia effectively controls the skies over the northern region.

Turkey launched an offensive into the enclave on January 20 against Syrian Kurdish fighters which Ankara considers to be a security threat because of their links to outlawed rebels in Turkey. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air strikes targeted the town of Afrin and its outskirts, killing two people and wounding others.

Since Turkey began its attacks, 120 people have been killed, including 26 children and 17 women, according to a statement from the civil administration council in Afrin. The statement added that 60,000 people have fled their homes, leading to a humanitarian crisis. It called on international aid organisations to help, with food said to be running short.</s>Fabio CASTALDO, the vice-president of the European Parliament expresses his concerns with the Turkey’s offensive in Afrin, and calls the EU diplomacy to react with determination to stop bombings, and convince Turkey to return to the legality and responsibility of its actions. CASTALDO finds the status of the candidate country, granted to Turkey, as particularly disgraceful for the EU, ignoring reality of visible moving away of Ankara from democratic standards.</s>Two Turkish soldiers were killed in a mortar attack by PYD-YPG/PKK/KCK and ISIL terrorists in Syria’s northwestern Afrin region, according to a military statement on Wednesday.

The Turkish General Staff in a statement said that the soldiers were killed in a region close to Afrin’s al-Maski region and southwest of the village of Bulbul. Turkish forces responded to the attack immediately, it added.

Turkey on Jan 20. launched Operation Olive Branch to remove PYD/PKK and ISIL terrorists from Afrin.

According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey’s borders and the region as well as to protect Syrians from terrorist oppression and cruelty.

The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN charter, and respect for Syria's territorial integrity, it said.

The military has also said that only terrorist targets are being destroyed and "utmost care" is being taken to avoid harming civilians.

Afrin has been a major hideout for the PYD/PKK since July 2012 when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without a fight.</s>Turkey has ordered the arrest of 17 people including the co-leader of the main pro-Kurdish political party over opposition to the military’s offensive in Syria, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Friday.

Since the launch of the campaign in north-west Syria’s Afrin nearly three weeks ago, authorities have said they would arrest those who criticise or oppose it. So far, some 600 people have been detained for protests or for social media posts against the offensive.

Anadolu cited the Ankara prosecutor’s office as saying the 17 suspects now facing arrest were accused of seeking to stir street protests and clashes under the guise of opposition to the Afrin offensive.

Among them were Serpil Kemalbay, the co-leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), it said. The HDP, parliament’s second-largest opposition party, is the only major political party to oppose the campaign – dubbed Operation Olive Branch – against the Kurdish YPG militia in Afrin.

The party is scheduled to hold its annual congress in Ankara on Sunday.

The HDP’s other co-leader, Selahattin Demirtas, is in jail over alleged links to Kurdish militants and is among many leading members of the party imprisoned on similar charges, which they have denied.

The YPG is designated by Ankara as a terrorist group and an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency on Turkish soil in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkey will strip the word ‘Turkish’ from the name of its main medical association after the group publicly opposed the campaign.</s>Turkey has ordered the arrest of 17 people including pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Serpil Kemalbay over their opposition to Turkey's military operation in Syria, state-run Anadolu news agency said on Friday.

ISTANBUL: Turkey has ordered the arrest of 17 people including pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Serpil Kemalbay over their opposition to Turkey's military operation in Syria, state-run Anadolu news agency said on Friday.

The HDP, parliament's second largest opposition party, is scheduled to hold its annual congress in Ankara on Sunday. Its other co-leader Selahattin Demirtas is in jail over alleged links to Kurdish militants.</s>"We will continue fighting terrorism, even despite the [Western] calls to stop the operation in Afrin … After we defeat the terrorists in Afrin, we will defeat them in Idlib too," he said speaking to heads of local governments.

He added that Turkey is committed to clearing the north-western areas of Syria from terrorists in order to ensure the return of refugees to their homeland.

READ MORE: Ankara Probing Country of Origin of Weapon That Destroyed Turkish Tank in Afrin

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Turkey on January 20 announced the beginning of operation "Olive Branch," directed against Kurdish forces in the enclave of Afrin in Northern Syria. The operation has been conducted jointly with Free Syrian Army forces.

Damascus strongly condemned Turkey's actions in Afrin, noting that it is an integral part of Syria. Moscow called on all parties to restraint and respect the territorial integrity of Syria.
Turkey arrests 17 leaders of the left-wing Peoples' Democratic Party for opposition to the ongoing Afrin offensive.