After absence lasted for 5 days from the skies of the area… the Turkish warplanes return to bomb Afrin leaving more civilian casualties and wounded with Turkish escalated shelling which targeted other villages
The last night witnessed the return of the Turkish warplanes to target the residential areas and the villages in Afrin area, in the north-western section of Aleppo countryside, 5 days after the Turkish warplanes absented from the skies of Afrin area, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored that the warplanes targeted Afrin city and its outskirts, which killed 2 citizens (an elderly man and a woman), while others injured with varying severity, increasing to 70 citizens including 21 children and 13 citizen women, the number of civilian casualties whose death was documented by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights since the death of the first citizen on the first day of launching the “Olive Branch” Operation through which the Turkish forces and the participating rebel and Islamic factions, aim to take the control of Afrin area, which is controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), in which the forces of the operation managed until now to control Bulbula town and other 15 villages which 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 Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored simultaneous aerial and artillery shelling targeting the villages of Bafalyun, Amra and Arab Wayran, in the north-east of Afrin city, in conjunction with aerial and artillery shelling on Kafr Jannah area and other areas in the townships of Raju and Jendires, which left injuries, while the violent clashes renewed between the Turkish forces and their allied rebel and Islamic factions against the YPG and the Self-Defense Forces, in places in the vicinity of Shikhorzah area related to Bulbula Township in the northern countryside of Afrin, in conjunction with clashes in areas in the western countryside of Afrin, amid exchange of targeting between the both parties, and information about more human losses in the ranks of the both parties.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published yesterday the 8th of February 2018, that 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, and 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, where 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.