With Turkish warplanes fly in the sky of the area, the Turkish artillery shell areas at the outskirts of Afrin city after Erdogan’s declaration about a military operation
Turkish forces continued their escalation of artillery and rocket shelling on Afrin area in the northwestern countryside of Aleppo Province and controlled by YPG. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored Turkish artillery shelling on areas in at the outskirts and surroundings of Afrin city, which caused more destruction and damage to the property of citizens, but no information about casualties, and the shelling was accompanying by the flight of warplanes believed to be Turkish over Afrin area.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published hours ago that the Turkish forces carried out a new shelling targeting Afrin area, which ci s controlled by YPG, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the shelling target the areas of Qastal and Dikmdash, in the 6th round of shelling within about 72 hours, also the 5 previous rounds of Turkish shelling the areas of Basoufan, Villat al-Qadi, Ghazawiyah and other places in the areas of Qatma, Kafr Jannah, as well as the areas and the villages of Qura Papa, Maskah, Jisr Hashraka in Raju Township, Iska, Basoufan, Dier Ballut, Shah Dira, Mullah Khalil, Jalma, Burj Sleiman and Jendires, which caused material damage and injured two citizens, one of them is a child and also a fighter of YPG was killed in the shelling.
The Turkish forces started their escalation on Afrin area on the 13th of January 2018, following statements by the Turkish presidency and the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about a military operation by the Turkish forces in Afrin against YPG.
It is noteworthy that Afrin area witnessed repeated shelling in the past few months by the Turkish forces which turned during the past two months hold their control over points where they can be presented in the vicinity of Afrin area, and in the outskirts of the YPG-held areas, after they entered the area and carried out reconnaissance operations in Idlib and Aleppo countryside, in order to determine the most suitable place, and these rounds took place with the accompanying and the protection of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham which secured the entry of the Turkish forces and their reconnaissance to the area, until they hold their points.