BEIRUT (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes struck pro-Syrian government forces in the northwestern Afrin region of Syria on Saturday, killing at least 36 of them, as Turkey’s assault in the Kurdish region gathered pace, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The pro-Syrian government forces entered Afrin last week in support of the Kurdish YPG militia, the stated target of the operation launched by Turkey and allied Syrian rebel fighters in January.

The Observatory said the air strike, which hit a camp in Kafr Jina, marked the third time in 48 hours that Turkish warplanes had struck pro-government forces in Afrin.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a YPG-led militia alliance, said in a statement that Turkish air strikes had targeted positions held by the Syrian army’s“popular forces” from 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) until 10 a.m. (0800 GMT).

It did not say where or give a death toll.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said his country’s forces had captured the town of Rajo from militants. The Observatory said the Turkish army was in control of about 70 percent of the town, about 25 km (16 miles) northwest of Afrin city.

The SDF statement said a group of Turkish forces and allied Syrian factions had infiltrated Rajo, where it said clashes were continuing between SDF forces and the attackers.

Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey and is deemed a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Turkey. The YPG has been an important ally for the United States in the fight against Islamic State.</s>BEIRUT/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes attacked pro-Syrian government forces overnight, killing at least 17 people in a village in the north of the Afrin region in northwestern Syria, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

The dead included three members of the Syrian Kurdish YPG force, while the rest came from militias that support President Bashar al-Assad and entered Afrin last week to help repel a Turkish offensive, the Observatory said.

The Turkish military declined to comment on the Observatory report, but the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday that Turkish attack helicopters had killed nine YPG fighters in the west of Afrin.

Another Turkish news agency, Dogan, reported that Turkish and allied forces had started an operation on Friday morning to take control of the town of Rajo in Afrin.

Turkey and allied Syrian rebel groups began their operation against the YPG in Afrin in January, aiming to drive out the Kurdish militia, which Ankara sees as a terrorist group linked to an insurgency inside Turkey’s borders.

Despite making slow progress at first, the offensive has gained control over all Afrin’s border areas adjoining Turkey. Late on Thursday, the Turkish military said eight Turkish soldiers had been killed and 13 injured in clashes in Afrin.

Last month, after the YPG asked the Syrian government to send its army to repel the offensive, pro-Syrian government militias crossed into Afrin and deployed along the frontlines with Turkey.

However, the move did not deter the Turkish offensive and has not so far heralded any wider escalation involving the Syrian government and the forces that support it.</s>Damascus: Turkey suffered heavy losses on Thursday during its offensive against a Kurdish militia in northwest Syria, with the military announcing that eight soldiers were killed and 13 more wounded.

 

 The death toll, released by the Turkish military staff in two separate statements, makes Thursday one of the deadliest days for Ankara since launching its cross-border operation against the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria's Afrin region on 20 January.

 

 "As part of the operations in Afrin, five of our heroic comrades fell as martyrs and seven were wounded," on Thursday, said the staff in a first statement.

 

 Shortly after, it issued a second statement in which it announced that three more soldiers had been killed as well as six wounded, without giving details of the circumstances.

 

 "May God grant peace to our martyred soldiers in Afrin, all my condolences to their loved ones," spokesman for the Turkish presidency Ibrahim Kalin said on Twitter.

 

 The day's toll brings the number of Turkish soldiers killed since the launch of operation "Olive Branch" to at least 40.

 

 The private Dogan news agency reported that intense fighting had broken out in the afternoon between Turkish special forces units recently deployed in Afrin and YPG members, who mounted an ambush with the help of tunnels.

 

 According to the report a Turkish helicopter sent to rescue the wounded had to turn back after being hit, while the area was shelled to allow an evacuation.

 

 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was informed of the incident during a visit to Senegal.

 

 Ankara considers the YPG a "terrorist" organisation closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a group that has been leading a bloody guerrilla war on Turkish soil since 1984.

 

 However, the YPG is supported by the United States and has been spearheading the international coalition fight against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria.

 

 The situation was complicated further 10 days ago following the deployment of pro-regime elements in the enclave of Afrin, with observers warning of an increased risk of collision between the forces of Ankara and Damascus.

 

 On Monday, Turkey deployed some 600 members of the police and gendarmerie special forces in the Afrin region, indicating it was preparing for urban fighting.

 

 The Turkish authorities have rejected a call by the United States this week to implement the humanitarian truce, called for by the UN Security Council in Syria, with Ankara saying the UN resolution did not concern its operation.

 

 The International Committee of the Red Cross said a humanitarian aid convoy entered the Afrin region on Thursday for the first time since the start of the Turkish offensive, which has had a severe impact on civilians.

 

 According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), 141 civilians, including 27 children, have died since the beginning of the Turkish military campaign, a claim which Ankara denies. (AFP)



 

(FJR)</s>Turkish warplanes attacked pro-Syrian government forces overnight, killing at least 17 people in a village in the north of the Afrin region in northwestern Syria, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

The dead included three members of the Syrian Kurdish YPG force, while the rest came from militias that support President Bashar al-Assad and entered Afrin last week to help repel a Turkish offensive, the Observatory said.

The Turkish military declined to comment on the Observatory report, but the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday that Turkish attack helicopters had killed nine YPG fighters in the west of Afrin.

Another Turkish news agency, Dogan, reported that Turkish and allied forces had started an operation on Friday morning to take control of the town of Rajo in Afrin.

Turkey and allied Syrian rebel groups began their operation against the YPG in Afrin in January, aiming to drive out the Kurdish militia, which Ankara sees as a terrorist group linked to an insurgency inside Turkey’s borders.

Despite making slow progress at first, the offensive has gained control over all Afrin’s border areas adjoining Turkey. Late on Thursday, the Turkish military said eight Turkish soldiers had been killed and 13 injured in clashes in Afrin.

Last month, after the YPG asked the Syrian government to send its army to repel the offensive, pro-Syrian government militias crossed into Afrin and deployed along the frontlines with Turkey.

However, the move did not deter the Turkish offensive and has not so far heralded any wider escalation involving the Syrian government and the forces that support it.</s>BEIRUT/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes attacked pro-Syrian government forces overnight, killing at least 17 people in a village in the north of the Afrin region in northwestern Syria, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

The dead included three members of the Syrian Kurdish YPG force, while the rest came from militias that support President Bashar al-Assad and entered Afrin last week to help repel a Turkish offensive, the Observatory said.

The Turkish military declined to comment on the Observatory report, but the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday that Turkish attack helicopters had killed nine YPG fighters in the west of Afrin.

Another Turkish news agency, Dogan, reported that Turkish and allied forces had started an operation on Friday morning to take control of the town of Rajo in Afrin.

Turkey and allied Syrian rebel groups began their operation against the YPG in Afrin in January, aiming to drive out the Kurdish militia, which Ankara sees as a terrorist group linked to an insurgency inside Turkey’s borders.

Despite making slow progress at first, the offensive has gained control over all Afrin’s border areas adjoining Turkey. Late on Thursday, the Turkish military said eight Turkish soldiers had been killed and 13 injured in clashes in Afrin.

Last month, after the YPG asked the Syrian government to send its army to repel the offensive, pro-Syrian government militias crossed into Afrin and deployed along the frontlines with Turkey.

However, the move did not deter the Turkish offensive and has not so far heralded any wider escalation involving the Syrian government and the forces that support it.</s>The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) liberated one more village from the PKK-affiliated People's Protection Units (YPG) yesterday as part of Operation Olive Branch in Syria's northwestern Afrin region.

The village of Shaykh Muhammadli in the Rajo district in northwest of Afrin, has been cleared of YPG terrorists. Since Feb. 26, a crescent-shape corridor stretching along northwestern Idlib province and Aleppo province's Azaz district has cut the terrorists' connection from the Turkish border.

Since the launch of the operation on Jan. 20, the Turkish military and FSA hve liberated 116 locations, including one of Afrin's five towns, 88 villages, six smaller villages, 20 strategic mountains and hills and one YPG base.

A TSK statement yesterday also said that at least 2,222 terrorists have been killed in Operation Olive Branch.

Ankara launched the operation on Jan. 20 to secure Turkey's border with Syria by driving the YPG from Afrin. The operation aims to establish security and stability along the border and in the region as well as to protect Syrian people from the oppression and cruelty of terrorists.

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

Afrin has been a major base for the YPG since July 2012, when the Bashar Assad regime in Syria left the region to the terrorist group without putting up a fight.</s>According to the Turkish news agency Anadolu, the Turkish army and an opposition group, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), have taken control of the town of Rajo. The forces have also reportedly captured the villages of Ramadiye and Hamilek to the south-west of Afrin during the offensive.

The Turkish TV channel Haberturk reported earlier that the second stage of Ankara's Olive Branch military push was launched on Friday. The Turkish forces aim to clear the large settlements in the Afrin area from mostly-Kurdish forces they deem to be terrorists, according to the reports.

READ MORE: Pentagon Sees No Indication of Turkey's Plans to Expand Olive Branch to Manbij

The towns of Rajo and Jinders are considered to be of strategic importance for the success of the Turkish operation, as they are located on the major roads leading to Afrin. After gaining control of the city, the Turkish military and their allies are planning to encircle Afrin.

The offensive comes after the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2401 calling on all parties to the conflict to stop fighting and adhere to a long-term humanitarian pause across the country in order to ensure the safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.

The Turkish armed forces have been carrying out their offensive in Afrin since January 20, 2018, in order to "clear" the area near the Syrian border of the Kurdish fighters they consider terrorists. Ankara considers the PYD, a Kurdish political party in northern Syria, and the related YPG militia, to be associated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara.

Damascus has strongly condemned the operation conducted by Turkey as an assault on the nation's sovereignty. Russia, in turn, has urged all parties to exercise restraint and called for respect for Syria's territorial integrity.</s>Turkish troops have cleared “terrorists” from a strategic village in the Kurdish-held enclave in north-western Syria, Turkey’s prime minister has said.

Turkish troops have cleared “terrorists” from a strategic village in the Kurdish-held enclave in north-western Syria, Turkey’s prime minister has said.

Mr Yildirim said Turkish soldiers captured Rajo in Afrin district and pushed the “terrorists” back from the border with Turkey, tightening its grip on Kurdish militia in the sixth week of its offensive on the area.

Mr Yildirim told a rally the Kurdish Afrin district was surrounded by the military, special police and paramilitary forces, as well as allied Syrian opposition fighters. “We have cleared all areas near our borders of terror nests,” he said.

A fighter of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army secures Mersewa village in the greater Afrin district, Syria (Emrah Gurel/AP) The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict, said fierce clashes were still ongoing in Rajo, in north-west Afrin. If confirmed, Rajo would be the largest centre in Afrin to be captured since the Turkish offensive began on January 20.

Turkish borders run along Afrin’s western and northern borders. A Syrian territory controlled by Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters lies to the east. Syrian government forces control territory in the south. Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters have been attacking Afrin from the north, west and east, and have formed a crescent around the district.

Turkey said it wants to oust the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, from Afrin, considering the group a terrorist organisation, an extension of a Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. Turkish soldiers hold a position on a hill in the greater Afrin district (Emrah Gurel/AP) Turkey said 41 of its soldiers have been killed since the operation began.

The US has no troops in Afrin, but said it fears the Turkish offensive could distract from the fight against IS in the east.

Complicating matters, fighters loyal to Syria’s government entered Afrin late last month to support the Syrian Kurdish militia, raising the spectre of a possible confrontation between Turkish and pro-government Syrian troops. The government continued its offensive against eastern Ghouta, a rebel-held region near the Syrian capital Damascus, despite a Russian-ordered five-hour humanitarian pause. A UN 30-day ceasefire has failed to take hold.

A Turkey-backed opposition fighter of the Free Syrian Army in the greater Afrin district (Emrah Gurel/AP) Syrian activists and rescuers said at least six civilians were killed in the ongoing bombing on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Syrian State TV said on Saturday that two children escaped from the region under gunfire from the rebels, who control eastern Ghouta.

Syrian government and Russian officials accuse the rebels of firing at a corridor set up for evacuation, preventing civilians from leaving. The corridor, manned by Russia military police and Syrian troops, has been set to open for five hours daily since Tuesday. An elderly Pakistani couple managed to leave after negotiations. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Syrian Civil Defence said six civilians were killed on Saturday in government bombings in eastern Ghouta.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Why is Turkey attacking Syria? Mark Lowen explains

At least 36 pro-Syrian government troops have been killed by a Turkish air strike in the region of Afrin, a monitoring group says.

The strike targeted a camp at Kafr Jina in the northern Syrian region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

The pro-government troops entered Afrin two weeks ago to back Kurdish forces.

They are fighting a Turkish military offensive that was launched to clear Kurdish groups from Afrin.

Turkey considers the Kurdish militiamen there terrorists.

The Syrian government has denounced the offensive as a "blatant attack" on its sovereignty and, according to state media, forces were sent in to support the Kurds.

The air strike followed one of the bloodiest days for Turkish troops since they began the offensive in January.

Eight Turkish soldiers were killed and another 13 were injured on Thursday in fighting in Afrin.

Five "heroic comrades fell as martyrs and seven were wounded", an initial statement from Turkey's military said. A second statement announced three more soldiers had been killed and six more wounded.

No official details of the clashes were given but the private Dogan news agency said Kurdish fighters used tunnels to ambush Turkish special forces in the Keltepe district.

A Turkish helicopter sent in to rescue the wounded was hit and had to turn back, the report added.

Thousands of civilians in Afrin have fled their homes since Turkey's offensive began.

The Turkish government says the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia is an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in south-eastern Turkey for three decades.

The YPG denies any direct organisational links to the PKK.

Neither side has released much information about fatalities, making the death toll in Afrin difficult to gauge.

The UK-based SOHR says more than 141 civilians have died but Turkey denies this, saying only combatants are targeted.

Last month, Amnesty International said indiscriminate shelling had killed scores of civilians in Afrin.

Yet another new flashpoint?

Analysis by Sebastian Usher, BBC Arab Affairs Editor

When pro-government militia forces edged into Afrin last month, it wasn't clear what their strategic purpose would be.

Videos showed a small group of militiamen being welcomed to Afrin city by Kurds there as their saviours. But it didn't seem likely that they would play much more than a symbolic role, allowing the Syrian government to vaunt a new territorial initiative but at no major risk.

In fact, it seemed that it might be a way of de-escalating the latest conflict in Syria after Turkey launched its operation against Kurdish fighters there.

A deal to allow the Syrian government to take over much of the control of the area might suit many of the parties involved. It might even be a less bad option for Turkey, allowing it to turn down the intensity of its offensive.

But if the reports are true that pro-government forces have been badly hit by Turkish airstrikes, that would appear to undercut this interpretation, raising the prospect of yet another new flashpoint in Syria.</s>Turkey says Saturday 41 of its soldiers have been killed in Syria’s northwestern region of Afrin, where the Turkish military has been engaged in a ground operation against US-backed Kurdish militants for more than a month.

 Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli made the announcement in a speech delivered at Istanbul National Defense University on Friday, adding that 95 villages or hamlets had come under their control during the so-called Operation Olive Branch. Canikli further said that 116 members of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) militant group, which has joined Turkish troops in their campaign against members of the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG).

 Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency quoted Canikli as saying that 2,295 militants of Kurdish factions and Daesh terrorists had been “neutralized” in the offensive, which was launched on January 19.

 The Turkish government has said the recent United Nations Security Council resolution on a month-long ceasefire in Syria will have no effect on its cross-border operations.

 Ankara views the YPG as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Ties between Ankara and Washington has further soured over the latter’s support for the Kurdish militants operating at Turkish doorstep. Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch, its second military intervention in Syia since 2011, after Washington said it would set up a border force comprising 30,000 Kurdish militants near Turkish soil.—Agencies
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 36 pro-Syrian government troops were killed in a Turkish airstrike in Afrin, Syria.