9 days of wars of ambushes and sudden attacks and the path of battles of Afrin becomes in the interest of the Kurdish forces claims the lives of 75 fighters of the factions and the Turkish forces soldiers
The Turkish forces tend to armor their vehicles and fears of more targeting and ambushes by the Kurdish forces in Afrin
The “Olive Branch” Operation Forces ended the 20th day of bloody military operations, since the beginning of the operations and the Turkish announcement on the 20th of January 2018, where the SOHR monitored since the beginning of the military operation the daily developments of the operation including the artillery, missile, aerial shelling, and targeting accompanying the violent battles, which take place between the YPG and the Self-Defense against the rebel and Islamic factions and the Turkish forces and the Gray Wolves Groups participating in the operations.
The SOHR monitored over the past 9 days that the path of the battles has changed as well as the balance of powers of both parties, as the control of the “Olive Branch” Operation Forces over one town and 15 villages located on the border line between Afrin and Turkey, didn’t prevent the war from changing its balance, where the SOHR monitored that the YPG began an organized operations through directly targeting the positions and vehicles of the Turkish forces and setting up ambushes, and thus the ongoing battles changed from direct confrontations to quick-tactics-based battles, which mostly depend on carrying an attack and quickly withdraw from the targeting position, which opened the door for the Kurdish forces to disperse the attacking forces, causing fears of attacks from an unexpected places, where Afrin area is suit for this kind of operations, in which the SOHR documented that the human losses of the “Olive Branch” Operation Forces exceeded the human losses of the Kurdish forces, while reliable sources asserted to the SOHR that the Turkish forces tended to armor their vehicles to prevent more human losses.
The SOHR documented since the 31st of January 2018 until the 8th of February the death of 13 at least soldiers of the Turkish forces, while at least 60 fighters of the rebel and Islamic factions operating within the “Olive Branch” Operation Forces, while at least 37 of the YPG in military operations and clashes over the past 9 days in Afrin area. The forces of “Olive Branch” operation managed since the beginning of the operation until now to advance and control Bulbula town and 15 villages, they are: ((Kanye, Khalilah in Sheikh Hadid Township in the west of Afrin, the villages of Mamlu Oshagli, Amra, Ali Beska, Edmanli in Rajo Township in the western countryside of Afrin, Shenkali village in the north-west of Afrin, and the villages of Bekah, Alikar, Abudan, Za’rah, Daru, Qarnah in the northern countryside of Afrin, and Jabal Barsaya – Qastal Jandu in the north-eastern countryside of Afrin)). The SOHR has documented the death of 68 Syrian citizens of the Kurds, Arabs and Armenians including 21 children and 12 citizen women, who live in Afrin area and were displaced to it in the recent years. They were all killed in the heavy Turkish aerial, artillery and rocket shelling on Afrin city since the start of the “Olive Branch” Operation on the 20th of January 2018.