The military concentrations continue in the Turkish side amid failure of their forces to advance inside Afrin’s territory and border gates open for “resorting to Turkey”
The military operations are continuing in Afrin and the northern section of Aleppo countryside, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the continuation of the violent clashes between the Turkish forces against the Syria Democratic Forces, in which these clashes concentrated in two main fronts which are Balyeh village in Bulbula Township north of Afrin on the border with Turkey, and Hamam village in Jendires Township on the western border of Afrin with Iskenderun, in conjunction with clashes in the area of Kerdu village in an attempt by the Turkish forces with its backed factions to advance and achieve their first advance inside the territory of Afrin area, with the continuation of the Turkish operation in its 9th consecutive day since it was started on the 13th of January 2018.
In the same context, reliable sources told the Syrian Observatory that the Turkish authorities opened 12 border gates on the border between the Turkish side and Afrin and on the border of Afrin area with Iskenderun, in an attempt to attract the citizens to cross the border to the Turkish territory, and the open of the gates coincided with the continuation of the Turkish military mobilization and bringing military reinforcements of Turkish forces, vehicles, supplies as well as bringing the factions’ fighters in the area prepared for attacking Afrin area.
And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the number of the civilian casualties in Afrin city has increased to 7 citizens documented by the SOHR, including a child under the age of 8, because of the aerial bombardment by the Turkish warplanes, which targeted during the past 24 hours, areas in Afrin city and other areas in Ayn Daqneh, Biloniyya, Aqbiya, Kerdu, Shikhorzah, Azzawiyyah, Haj Hasna, Kafryeh, Hajika, Blilka and other areas in the Township of Raju, Jendires, Shirawa, and in the northwestern countryside of Aleppo, and the death toll is expected to rise because there are some people in critical situation.
Also the clashes were accompanied by renewing the artillery shelling by the Turkish forces on areas in Balyeh and Bulbula Township as well as other areas in Afrin countryside, which caused material damage, without information about causing casualties, while the Syrian Observatory documented the death of 7 fighters of YPG whow ere killed yesterday, by the Turkish air and missile strikes, and the clashes that took place between both parties in the area, also a new Turkish military column that includes heavy vehicles and soldier carriers entered the Syrian territory yesterday, heading towards the contact points with YPG northwest of Aleppo, while Afrin witnessed displacements of families from the area, in which some of them arrived in the area of Nubl and Al-Zahraa linking Afrin with Aleppo city and considered the only outlet linking between them, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published in the afternoon of Saturday the 20th of January 2018, that violent and successive explosions rocked Afrin area in the north-western section of Aleppo countryside, controlled by the SDF, and the SOHR learned that the strikes were carried out simultaneously by more than 10 warplanes which targeted areas in Afrin city as well as areas in its countryside, where the raids targeted the townships of Raju, Jendires, Sharra Mabta and Shirawa, which caused material damage, and resulted in the fall of a number of wounded who were carried to receive treatment, and these are the first airstrikes carried out by Turkish warplanes on Afrin area and its city, which come with escalating the Turkish shelling for its 8th consecutive day, while the warplanes are flying over the area amid alertness witnessed in the city and fears for the citizens’ lives in the city, its districts and its countryside.