As a part of the Turkish massacres that target Afrin city and the people displaced from it… Turkish aerial and ground strikes kill 18 citizens and injure more than 45 persons in the city

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned from a number of reliable sources that the Turkish warplanes targeted Afrin city during the past few hours, where the targeting to Afrin has been continuing since last night, by the Turkish forces and warplanes, which resulted in the fall of tens of casualties and wounded, where the SOHR documented the death of 18 citizens including 5 children as a result of the shelling on the city, while more than 45 others were injured with varying severity, and others are still missing, where the bodies of some of them are still under the rubble of the destruction caused by shelling by the Turkish forces on the city, which is still continuing in the area until now, and the Syrian Observatory learned that the shelling has targeted the people displaced from Afrin city, in an attempt by the Turkish forces to stop the displacement of citizens and forces them to flee towards their controlled areas in Afrin countryside, amid continuation of the displacement of the citizens in order to flee from the shelling that targets the city, as more than 2500 citizens since yesterday after the midnight, from Afrin city towards the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa and the surrounding agricultural lands controlled by militiamen loyal to the regime forces in the north of Aleppo, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory; hundreds of families displaced last night and after the midnight of Thursday – Friday, from Afrin city by cars and busses, through Jabal Al-Ahlam Road to the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa and the surrounding agricultural lands.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored violent clashes ongoing since Wednesday between the Turkish forces and the rebel and Islamic factions against the YPG and the Self-Defense Forces, in areas in the north of Afrin city, in an attempt by the Turkish forces to achieve further advancement in the area and reach Afrin city in order to storm it, but the forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation failed to advance, while the Turkish forces managed to achieve advancement in the western section of Afrin countryside, within the operations that aim to clamp down on the Kurdish forces controlled area, and the clashes are accompanied by intensive aerial and ground shelling by the Turkish forces on the positions of the Kurdish forces, which resulted in the fall of more human losses in the ranks of the both parties.

And with the death of more citizens, the death toll has increased to 245 Syrian citizens of the Kurds, Arabs and Armenians, including 41 children and 26 women, who were killed in the Turkish aerial, rocket and artillery shelling, and executions carried out against citizens in Afrin area, since the 20th of January 2018, and the shelling resulted in resulted in the injury of hundreds of citizens with varying severity, and the missing of others, while some of injured cases have permanent disabilities, while it rose to 447 including 71 soldiers of the Turkish forces, the number of the members and fighters of the Turkish forces and the factions who were killed in the clashes against the Kurdish Units in Afrin area, while it rose to 429, the number of fighters of the YPG and the Self-Defense forces who were killed in the shelling and clashes in Afrin countryside, since the start of Operation “Olive Branch”, while 91 members at least of regime forces’ NDF were killed in the Turkish shelling since they started to enter on the 20th of February 2018.

And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published yesterday that the ongoing displacement in Afrin, included more than 30 thousand civilians since day before yesterday, and it was accompanied by fears of hundreds of thousands civilians exist in the city of Afrin and nearby villages, amid calls by these civilians through the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights to the international community to move to act against the Turkish massacres that began on Wednesday the 14th of March 2018, through heavy aerial and ground shelling on the city of Afrin which witnesses  the interruption of water, electricity and communications, by the Turkish forces for the 10th consecutive day, following their control over Midanki Dam on Midanki Lake in the northern countryside of Afrin city, and the interruption of water, electricity and communications is coincided with extreme shortage of flour and fuel in Afrin area, where the lines of citizens are ongoing before the only bakery remained in the city of Afrin, to receive bread which the city lacks, also these tragic humanitarian situations forces citizens from Afrin city and its related villages, to displace to the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa through walking for long distances on foot, to reach areas in both towns located in the northern countryside of Aleppo, where citizens confirmed to the SOHR that the Turkish forces tend to each move by citizens coming out from Afrin city and its related villages of about 90 villages and one town, towards the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa and prevent them to come out, in an attempt to force them to flee towards the controlled areas of the forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation in Afrin countryside.