The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

“Olive Branch” factions continue their violations and arrests of people of Afrin and its countryside and more attacks by Kurdish fighters inflict new casualties

As the factions “Olive Branch” Operation continue their violations against civilians, the regional and international parties continue to turn a blind eye from what is going on, and about the catastrophe lived by thousands of people who remain in Afrin area and tens of thousands of others who have been displaced by the attack of the Turkish forces and opposition factions of the Syrian the rebel and Islamic factions, where the violations continue to be carried out by fighters and factions operating in the area, where the Syrian Observatory monitored the factions supported by Turkey arresting, insulting, beating and brutally torturing an old man, and insulting members of his family and taking him to one of the detentions, blackmailing him to pay an tens of thousands of dollars in order to be released, and the people confirmed that the family of the arrested man was unable to pay which made members of the faction that arrested him beat him severely and then they released him, after that his family took him to a hospital due to his bad health situation due to violent beatings and torture.

In the name context, YPG fighters continue to carry out more targeting for positions of the rebel and Islamic factions and Turkish forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation in Afrin area, where the targeting concentrated in the northern and western countryside of Afrin city, which caused casualties in the ranks of the factions, where one member was killed, and others were wounded during their movement on roads reaching to Afrin area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored more than a month ago that violent clashes took place between Turkish forces and factions operating within “Olive Branch” Operation against members of YPG, in areas in the northern countryside of Afrin in the northwestern sector of Aleppo Province, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights from several reliable sources: violent clashes took place between the Turkish Forces and the Syrian factions supported by Turkey against a group of fighters of the Kurdish Units, in the Qort Qolag area northeast of Afrin which is about 6 km away of Afrin city, these violent clashes which have been taking place since midnight of yesterday until the dawn of today pushed the Turkish forces to shell the area by artillery shells, amid the flight of Turkish warplanes and reconnaissance drone in the sky of the area, where the warplanes targeted areas of presence of the group of the Kurdish Forces, in conjunction with ground shelling on the area and targeting the Kurdish group site, and the contact with most of the fighters of the group was lost, amid information about casualties in the ranks of the Turkish Forces and the fighters supported by them, also the sources confirmed that a sweep process is being carried out by “Olive Branch” Operation Forces for the targeted place.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored 65 attacks by members and groups of the Kurdish Forces against the Turkish forces and Syrian opposition factions, through mines and IEDs detonations and shoulder-mounted rocket targeting, which killed tens of fighters of the factions and the Turkish Forces during the attacks, which pace has escalated in the last week and caused casualties and injuries in the ranks of both parties, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented an escalation in the number of casualties as a result of the continuation of targeting by YPG groups for the Turkish forces and the factions in Afrin area, where it rose to at least 1534 the number of fighters of YPG and the Self-Defense forces who were killed since Operation “Olive Branch” started, while 592 members and fighters of the Turkish forces and the factions including 83 soldiers of the Turkish forces, were killed in the clashes against the Kurdish Units in Afrin area, and 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.