A village and 3 hills in Afrin area separate the Turkish Forces from areas of “Euphrates Shield” Operation Forces in the countryside of Idlib and the western countryside of Aleppo

Aleppo Province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the continuation of violent clashes between the Self-Defense Forces and YPG against the rebel and Islamic factions and the Turkish Forces, in places in Afrin area which is located in northwestern countryside of Aleppo Province, in a continuation of the “Olive Branch” Operation which aims to control Afrin area, where there is still one village and 3 hills stretching at about 7 km between Azaz area and the areas that are controlled by the “Euphrates Shield” in the northern, western and northeastern countryside of Aleppo and in Idlib Province within the Syrian territory, and if the Turkish forces were able to control the remaining area, then they will be able to connect this area to a border line that passes from north and west of Afrin; starts from Jarabulus to the western countryside of Aleppo and Idlib. The clashes are accompanied by exchange of shelling in the clash areas, also the Turkish Forces shelled places in Jendires area and other areas in the countryside of Afrin, but no information about casualties, also the Syrian Observatory learned that 2 members at least of the regime forces of the “Syrian National Defense Forces”, they were killed in Turkish aerial bombardment on Raju area in the western sector of the countryside of Afrin.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published during the past few hours that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the continuation of the advancement of the Turkish forces and the rebel and Islamic factions, in the north-western angle of Afrin area with the Turkish border, thus, the Turkish forces continued their advancement where they took the control of a village in Bulbula Township in the north of Afrin, and they also took the control of Meidan Ekbis and the surrounding villages, thus, Turkey became in control of about 132 km of the Turkish border with Afrin, including about 105 linked kilo meters, from Jabal to Sheikh Hadid Township, while only 7 km controlled by the Kurdish forces are still separating the Turkish forces from the pocket controlled by the forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation in Jendires area in the south west of Afrin, where the border line between Afrin and Turkey is about 27 km.

This advancement expanded the Turkish forces’ scope of control to 73 villages and only one town (Bulbula), with a percentage of more than 21% of the total villages of Afrin, and the Turkish forces managed to reach the outskirts of the strategic towns of Jendires and Raju, and only few hundreds of meters remain for them to reach Jendires town, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored that the pace of the Turkish aerial and artillery shelling on Afrin area, increased after forces of the regime started to enter it on the 20th of February 2018, following an agreement between the Kurdish forces and the regime forces, where Afrin area witnessed tens of airstrikes and shelling by hundreds of rocket and artillery shells, which targeted the townships of Jendires, Sheikh Hadid, Raju, Maabatli, Bulbula, Sharra, Afrin city and other places in the area, while the Turkish forces managed to achieve wide advancement, where they have taken the control of 28 villages at least since the forces of the regime entered Afrin, which equals more than a third of the total areas the Turkish forces have controlled, since the start of Operation “Olive Branch” during its first month, and the SOHR also documented more human losses in the ranks of the both parties, where it has increased to 248, the number of fighters of the YPG and the Self-Defense forces who were killed in the shelling and clashes in Afrin countryside, while it rose to 262 including 40 soldiers of the Turkish forces, the number of the members and fighters of the forces of the “Olive Branch” Operation who were killed in the clashes against the Kurdish Units in Afrin city, also hundreds of citizens, fighters and soldiers were injured with different severity, some of them have permanent disabilities.