Turkey launched a full-scale offensive in the country’s northern Afrin Region, titled “Operation Olive Branch,” aimed at pushing back the Syrian-Kurdish YPG militia from Turkey’s border region, that even though the militant group is backed by the United States coalition. Ankara views the YPG militia as the Syrian extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK, which has carried out a three-decade insurgency in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish region – and is internationally recognized as a terrorist organization. Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim noted that Syrian rebels participate in the operation along-side the Turkish military. He said, “Apart from Turkish armed forces, there are components of Free Syrian Army participating in this operation,” Yildirim noted.
Alongside the ground operation in Afrin Region, the Turkish military said it conducted some 108 strikes against Kurdish targets, which the YPG militia said, “resulted in the death of six Kurdish civilians and three fighters.” The Syrian government, which has threatened to shoot down Turkish planes, condemned the strikes. It called the attacks “brutal Turkish aggression on Afrin which is an essential part of Syrian land.”