With the arrival of the Turkish Forces to the entrance of Afrin city, calls for demonstrate in European countries and many cities witness sit-ins in front of the government headquarters
Operation “Olive Branch” has completed its 50th consecutive day since the Turkish announcement on 20th of January 2018, it ended the 50th day by a new advancement and control operation over villages and areas in the countryside of Afrin and the vicinity of Afrin city, in which the Turkish Forces and their supporting factions of the Syrian opposition of the rebel and Islamic factions; were able to reaching the northern entrances of Afrin city, where fears have increased over the lives of civilians in the city, nearby villages and farms, where there are hundreds of thousands of civilians there, where reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that they did not leave the basements and shelters out of fear of shelling that might target them by the Turkish Forces and warplanes, which pushed the Self-Management in Afrin and rest of the areas that are controlled by the Kurdish forces; to call for demonstrations in front of embassies, institutions and government headquarters condemning the Turkish attack and demanding them to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Afrin area, of which Turkey is seeking to besiege it by advancing from the east and southwest of Afrin and meet, to complete the siege of Afrin city and surrounding villages and the villages that are still under the control of the Kurdish Forces in Afrin countryside, and separate them from the rest of the Syrian areas completely, where many European cities witnessed Saturday evening demonstrations and sit-ins by Syrian Kurdish citizens demanding a European move to pressure Turkey and stop the military operation, coincided with demonstrations in several cities in Al-Hasaka Province condemning the Turkish attack and demanding to save the lives of civilians, in the same time a leader from one of the cities north of Aleppo and near Afrin has confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, that they are ready to protect the civilians who want to come out of Afrin, and that Turkey has opened passages for those who want to get out of them.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of 204 Syrian citizens of the Kurds, Arabs and Armenians, including 32 children and 26 women, who were killed in the Turkish aerial, rocket and artillery shelling, and executions carried out against citizens in Afrin area, since the 20th of January 2018, and the shelling resulted in resulted in the injury of hundreds of citizens with varying severity, and the missing of others, while some of injured cases have permanent disabilities, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights received information from several reliable sources that the humanitarian situation is getting catastrophic in Afrin area, as a result of increased shelling and escalation of ground attack and the accompanied shelling, where reliable sources confirmed for the Observatory that thousands of civilians are now sleeping on the open in Afrin city and the surrounding villages and farms nearby, in addition to the displacement of more than 12 thousand civilians from the area towards the towns of Nubl and al-Zahraa in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
Also the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published hours ago that only few hundreds of meters separate the Turkish forces from the north-east of the city, while the Turkish forces are continuing their advancement to meet each other’s, after their advancement in the east and the south-west of Afrin city, and if they managed to advance and meet each other’s, then they will impose a full siege over Afrin city and all the villages still controlled by the Kurdish forces, where the Turkish forces tend to resume their intensive aerial, rocket and artillery shelling on the Kurdish forces’ controlled areas causing more destruction, amid increased fears for the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens who are still in Afrin area, although thousands of them have displaced to areas in the towns of Nubl and al-Zahraa, and the rest are prevented by the regime forces to reach Aleppo city, with the exception of paying tributes and huge sums to the checkpoints in order to allow them to cross.
Also it rose to 414 including 71 soldiers of the Turkish forces, the number of the members and fighters of the Turkish forces and the factions who were killed in the clashes against the Kurdish Units in Afrin area, while it rose to 376, the number of fighters of the YPG and the Self-Defense forces who were killed in the shelling and clashes in Afrin countryside, since the start of Operation “Olive Branch”, while 81 members at least of regime forces’ NDF were killed in the Turkish shelling since they started to enter on the 20th of February 2018.