In conjunction with the displacement of 2 thousands in the Eastern Ghouta, tens of thousands of civilians are displaced in the city of Afrin and catastrophic situation in the city

Civilians of Afrin call the international communities to protect them from the Turkish attack accompanied by aerial and ground shelling

Aleppo province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights:: the SOHR monitored the ongoing displacement of thousands of citizens from Afrin city towards the surrounding deserts and the towns of Al-Nubol Al-Zahraa in the northern countryside of Aleppo, which is controlled by militants loyal to the regime forces, and several reliable sources told the SOHR that thousands of citizens displaced over the recent hours from the city, while the Turkish warplanes are still flying and shelling the areas of Afrin city and its surrounding, in an attempt to secure the advancement of the forces and force the civilians to get out of the city in order to launch an offensive on the city, which coincides with artillery and aerial Turkish shelling over the past 24 hours leaving 12 martyrs and more than 60 injured, amid ongoing displacement.

This large displacement included more than 30 thousand civilians since day before yesterday, and it was accompanied by fears of hundreds of thousands civilians exist in the city of Afrin and nearby villages, amid calls by these civilians through the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights to the international community to move to act against the Turkish massacres that began on Wednesday the 14th of March 2018, through heavy aerial and ground shelling on the city of Afrin which witness  the interruption of water, electricity and communications, by the Turkish forces for the 10th consecutive day, following their control over Midanki Dam on Midanki Lake in the northern countryside of Afrin city, and the interruption of water, electricity and communications is coincided with extreme shortage of flour and fuel in Afrin area, where the lines of citizens are ongoing before the only bakery remained in the city of Afrin, to receive bread which the city lacks.

These tragic humanitarian situations forces citizens from Afrin city and its related villages, to displace to the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa through walking for long distances on foot, to reach areas in both towns located in the northern countryside of Aleppo, where citizens confirmed to the SOHR that the Turkish forces tend to each move by citizens coming out from Afrin city and its related villages of about 90 villages and one town, towards the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa and prevent them to come out, in an attempt to force them to flee towards the controlled areas of the forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation in Afrin countryside.

The SOHR obtained a copy of a video shot by a member of “Olive Branch” Operation Forces, in which he said that he is in Al-Shiekh Hadid town, which was confirmed by sourced to the Observatory. The fighter said in this video: “this is the fully liberated Sheikh Hadid free of separatist terrorist, and I urge the brothers and displaced people, who were displaced from Al-Raqqa, Al-Tabqa and other areas controlled by the separatist betrayals, to come and take a house with an olive land”. This video comes after othervideos obtained by the SOHR which show fighters of Operation “Olive Branch” threatening the inhabitants of Afrin, directing their message through one of the fighters who said “to the Kurdish infidels, we inform you that if you turn to God in repentance, you have to know that you are our brothers, but if you do not, then we see your heads have been ripe and we have come to pick them up”, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights mentioned that the video is likely to be filmed in the Sheikh Hadid area in the western countryside of Afrin, from one of the villages controlled by Turkish forces and the rebel and Islamic factions. Afrin area has witnessed similar calls from other to settle Syrian people displaced from other provinces inside these villages.