READ MORE: Turkey Announces Preliminary End Date of Olive Branch Op in Afrin

On January 20, Ankara, jointly with the opposition Free Syrian Army forces, launched Operation Olive Branch in Afrin in order to "clear" Turkey's Syrian border from the terrorist threat. Kurdish fighters form the bulk of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in the fight against Islamic State jihadists (AFP Photo/DELIL SOULEIMAN)

Raqa (Syria) (AFP) - A US-backed alliance of Syrian fighters announced on Tuesday it would redeploy around 1,700 members from front lines against the Islamic State group to a Kurdish enclave under Turkish attack. However, while the United States maintains it has no “direct relationship” with the YPG in Afrin, it has not stopped it from assisting its friend and families fighting against Turkey and its Syrian rebel allies, which include the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which has received American taxpayer-funded assistance in the past.
The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army seizes control of Jindires in Syria's Afrin District from the Kurdish YPG. The town is extensively destroyed by Turkish airstrikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.