Afrin witnesses the displacement of more than 150 thousand citizens from it with ongoing aerial and ground shelling and new Turkish attempts to advance and storm the city

Aleppo Province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: Afrin area is witnessing Turkish aerial, artillery and rocket shelling, which did not calm down all last night, where the shelling targeted areas in Afrin city, its outskirts and its vicinity, in conjunction with ongoing displacement of citizens towards the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the number of people displaced from Afrin city exceeded 150 thousand citizens who has been displaced since Wednesday night, the 14th of March 2018, towards the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa in the northern countryside of Aleppo city, controlled by gunmen loyal to the regime, amid continuous fears for the lives of the people stayed in the city, in conjunction with the continuation of the violent clashes between the YPG and the Self-Defense Forces against the rebel and Islamic factions and the Turkish forces, in areas in both northern and western entrances of Afrin city, where the forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation are continuing their attempts to advance into the area, amid exchange of targeting in the clash areas between the both parties.

And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published last night that the Turkish forces and their warplanes renewed their targeting for places in Afrin area, which is located in the northwestern sector of Aleppo Province, where the shelling targeted Afrin Hospital which is the only hospital in the city, and caused a massacre in and around the hospital, where at least 16 people were killed including 2 pregnant women, and others were injured with varying severity, and the death toll is expected to rise because there are some people in critical situation, where it rose to 43 including 7 children and 2 pregnant women, the number of civilians who were killed today, Friday, 16th of March 2018, in Afrin city, raising to 270 including 43 children and 28 citizens, the number of civilians of the al-Kurds, Arabs and Armenians, who were killed in the Turkish aerial, artillery and missile shelling, and in executions against several citizens in Afrin area since the 20th of January 2018, also the shelling injured hundreds of citizens with varying severity, while it rose to 447 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 429, 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 91 members at least of regime forces’ NDF were killed in the Turkish shelling since they started to enter on the 20th of February 2018.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published yesterday evening, that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the Turkish Forces advance and reaches the vicinity of Maabatli town “Mabata”, which is inhabited by Kurdish citizens of the Alawite sect, amid shelling targeted areas at the outskirts of town and its surroundings, with the continuation of Turkish shelling on Afrin city and its countryside of, amid overflights by Turkish warplanes in the sky of the area, while the displacement of citizens from Afrin city to the towns of Nubl and Zahra continue, in an attempt by civilians to reach these two towns which are control by fighters loyal to the regime, after the displacement of more than 35000 civilians during the past 48 hours, fleeing the city which suffers catastrophic humanitarian conditions, where the fear on lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Afrin city and connected villages continues, amid repeated calls by civilians through the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights to the international community to move and do something about the Turkish holocaust that began on Wednesday, the 14th of March 2018, by aerial and ground bombardment on Afrin city, where the areas that are connected to it still have no electricity, water and communications, and also suffer sharp decrease in the bread and fuel, while queues of civilians continue to line up in front of the only remaining bread furnace in Afrin city.