YPG fighters continue their operations in Afrin area against “Olive Branch” Operations Forces
YPG fighters continue their targeting of Turkish forces and the rebel and Islamic factions of the “Olive Branch” Operation in Afrin area, where they have stepped their operations during the past few days against the Forces that completely controlled Afrin area on the 18th of March 2018, and caused casualties in the ranks of “Olive Branch” Operation Forces, in addition to casualties in the ranks of the Kurdish forces, where it’s rose to 543 including 80 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 Forces in Afrin area, while it rose to 1506, 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 targeting come in conjunction with the escalation of the dramatic situation of the displaced people of Afrin area who are in the northern countryside of Aleppo, where several reliable sources reported to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that “Olive Branch” Operation Forces continue to prevent civilians from passing through their checkpoints to return to their homes in Afrin area, displaced people from Afrin told the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that tens of families have tried to return within the past 48 hour from the northern countryside of Aleppo, and the areas in which the regime forces deployed before the control of Afrin city by “Olive Branch” Operation Forces, however, these families have not been able to cross towards the areas controlled by the Turkish forces and factions, as they were prevented from marching towards Afrin.
Local and other reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the prevention of return to Afrin was carried out by “Olive Branch” Operation Forces and by the gunmen loyal to the regime, and the locals confirmed that those who managed to reach the first checkpoints of “Olive Branch” Operation Forces were prevented from entering the area and forced to return to where they came from, while checkpoints of the gunmen loyal to the regime prevented other families from reaching the outskirts of Afrin area, and they were forced to return to the areas they stayed in after they were displaced, while SOHR received information from reliable sources that about 48 hours ago, a checkpoint of YPG prevented civilians from getting out of the northern countryside of Aleppo towards their villages and homes in Afrin area.
This humanitarian tragedy of tens of thousands of the displaced people in the areas which Turkey intends to enter, also comes amid shutting the international community’s eyes to the tragedy of the displaced people of Afrin, and its ignorance to the cries the sufferings, with the lack of aid provided by the humanitarian organization as the batches of aid are not enough except for a group of the displaced people, thousands of whom are still staying in the open, amid fears for their lives amid the Turkish advancement in these areas where the displaced people have resorted to fleeing from the Turkish forces and the factions which attacked Afrin area, these new deteriorated conditions and the return prevention come with the continuation of the first tragedy of the displaced people of the inhabitants of Afrin area, where their humanitarian situation are getting worse day after day, amid bad weather conditions in the area, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the deterioration of the humanitarian conditions of more than 300 thousand displaced people, who have displaced from Afrin city and its villages to the northern countryside of Aleppo, where they spred in the areas where the militiamen loyal to the regime are located, including tens of thousands of families that reached the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa in the same countryside, and tens of people displaced from Afrin asserted to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the aid provided to them was shy and too little and did not amount to the level of the tragedy, where the aid of the Red Crescent was provided in batches, and the medical services were also provided, but they was not enough except for a group of the displaced people, while there are thousands of citizens still staying in the open as a result of the lack of the tents, after the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa and the villages and towns in the northern countryside of Aleppo became crowded with the people displaced from Afrin, many of whom have found it difficult to rent a house because of doubling the rents of the houses, and the continuation of the regime forces to prevent citizens displaced from Afrin, of who try to displace to Aleppo city, to reach it, increased these tragic humanitarian situations, where several reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the checkpoints of the regime forces are continuing to impose fees on the citizens desire to reach Aleppo city, where about 1000$ is imposed for each single person, while others are helped to escape in different ways through the regime’s checkpoints inside Aleppo city, in return for large sums of money, where the residents complained to the SOHR about these situations, and the ongoing prevention of the regime’s checkpoints to reach Aleppo city despite the tragic humanitarian situation in the northern countryside of Aleppo, which is crowded with thousands of people displaced from Afrin city and its villages.