Turkey  completes construction of border wall in Afrin while annexing stretches of Syrian territory

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has been tracking Turkey’s ongoing land-grab attempts to expand its border further into Afrin and annexing more Syrian territories,  two years now  since Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies took control of Afrin. Turkey captured more Syrian areas in order to achieve several goals, the most prominent of which was expanding its borders on the outskirts of Balya village of Bulbala township to a distance exceeding 315 meters. The vertical and horizontal coordinates of border strip have changed to  (N36*49’56.6″E”28.6’47*36) from the previous (N36*49’58.9″E”38.6’47*36).

Turkey also annexed a stretch of nearly 365 meters into Afrin,  from the side of “Zarrah” village of Bulbulah township, including Sheikh Hamza shrine. The present coordinates of the borderlines are (N36*47’36.4″E”49.2’47*36), which previously were (N36*47’37.3″E”01.1’48*36).

According to eyewitnesses from the area, Turkey seized many properties of the original residents. Now, the village of Balya that used to be 800 meters away from Turkey border, became at a distance of only 400 meters away from the border strip.

SOHR sources also say that the Turkish forces annexed a stretch of nearly 250 meters in Jabal Sheikh Karr of Bulbula township, bringing the border strip at the following coordinates: (N36*48’36.6″E”32.1’47*36).

Accordingly, the distance between the mural of the Kurdish commander Abdullah Öcalan in Bulbulah township and the present borderline reached 1,450 meters according to the vertical and horizontal coordinates: (N36*48’43.5″E”45.9’46*36).

Reliable sources have informed SOHR that Turkey is continuing its construction of the border wall in “Baniraka” village, but the wall’s line is going to be modified.