The Turkish ground army, backed by its air force, has now full on entered the northern Syrian province of Afrin. Videos of intense fighting are emerging on social media. As we’ve reported already yesterday, the Kurdish YPG fighters, hardened in their battle with ISIS since 2014, stated that they would defend their positions against the Turkish invaders and if first reports are to be believed, they have so far destroyed two Turkish T-122 tanks, the same that can be seen in the hereunder video targeting the YPG positions.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Turkish Armed Forces launch artillery barrage from T-122 tanks targeting terrorist YPG positions in Syria’s Afrin <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OperationOliveBranch?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OperationOliveBranch</a> <a href="https://t.co/VjGJHj9mmu">https://t.co/VjGJHj9mmu</a> <a href="https://t.co/6jYpcD26cF">pic.twitter.com/6jYpcD26cF</a></p>— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) <a href="https://twitter.com/DailySabah/status/955033491627851778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Back in Turkey itself, the Kurdish PKK political organization is now calling for its followers to attack hotels in Turkey, stating the Kurds should ‘turn Turkey into Mogadishu’.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LATEST — Turkish ground units have started crossing the border from Turkey’s Kilis to Syria’s Afrin as part of Operation Olive Branch <a href="https://t.co/VjGJHiRLuW">https://t.co/VjGJHiRLuW</a> <a href="https://t.co/vkbMuFTcK0">pic.twitter.com/vkbMuFTcK0</a></p>— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) <a href="https://twitter.com/DailySabah/status/954999857953017856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The Turkish air force meanwhile claims they’ve hit 153 targets in Syria’s Afrin so far, with their main focus being on shelters, hideouts and ammunition depots used by the PKK and the YPG fighters.
In the hereunder video of this morning, released by the Turkish air force, they claim to destroy a tunnel used as an ammunition depot by the YPG fighters.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Turkish warplanes and artillery hit 153 targets – shelters, hideouts and ammunition depots used by PKK, YPG and Daesh – in Syria's Afrin as troops and FSA advance on ground as part of Turkey's Operation Olive Branch <a href="https://t.co/9VoCmSsQZy">https://t.co/9VoCmSsQZy</a> <a href="https://t.co/3RzM3Fbbis">pic.twitter.com/3RzM3Fbbis</a></p>— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TRTWorldNow/status/955030619171389441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The three main actors in the regions that have not yet acted so far are Russia (which normally controls the skies over Syria), the US (which normally backs the YPG fighters) and the Syrian government of Bashar Al-Assad itself (which stated beforehand that it would shoot down any Turkish jet entering it’s airspace).
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Local media reports at least 7 people have been injured due to Turkey's aggression against Kurdish controlled Afrin in Rojava <a href="https://t.co/wmWhuR9Eph">pic.twitter.com/wmWhuR9Eph</a></p>— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) <a href="https://twitter.com/RudawEnglish/status/954744343952228352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Source:
Trump, are you abandoning your allies?