Turkey says ground troops entered Syria

Turkish ground troops personal crossed into northern Syria, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowing to crush Kurdish fighters « in a short time ».

The Kurdish YPG militia says it has repelled Turkish troops in Afrin, and is shelling Turkish border areas.

Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist community, however it styles an well-known allotment of a US-backed alliance battling Islamic Recount (IS) jihadists in Syria.

The US has knowledgeable Turkish « restraint » in talk in self belief to e book obvious of civilian casualties.

• Why Turkey is focusing on Kurdish enclave in Syria
• Who are the Kurds?

What goes on in Afrin?

It is the second day of Turkey’s defense power operation « Olive Branch ».

Turkish troops, accompanied by skilled-Turkey rebels from the Free Syrian Military (FSA), personal already evolved some 5km (three miles) into Syrian territory, bid-scuttle Anadolu data company reported.

Turkish Top Minister Binali Yildirim stated the aim changed into once to place a 30km (19-mile) « protected zone » deep inside Syria.

However a spokesperson for the YPG, Nouri Mahmoudi, stated the community had managed to repel Turkish troops and they also had been « compelled to retreat ».

Some 25,000 FSA fighters personal joined the offensive on the Turkish side, insurrection commander Maj Yasser Abdul Rahim knowledgeable Reuters. It is never obvious how many Turkish squaddies are on the bottom.

Turkey’s defense power stated it had hit 45 targets on Sunday, as allotment of its air and ground campaign.

It earlier stated dozens of air strikes had taken out 153 targets belonging to Kurdish militants.

President Erdogan vowed on Sunday to crush the Kurdish fighters in Syria, as smartly because the Kurdistan Staff Occasion (PKK) – which is outlawed in Turkey.

« Our jets took off and started bombing. And now, the bottom operation is below manner. Now we peek how the YPG… are fleeing in Afrin, » he stated. « We are in a position to poke them. God willing, we are in a position to full this operation in a short time. »

He additionally warned that any individual becoming a member of skilled-Kurdish protests in Turkey over the operation would pay a « heavy mark ». Police later dispersed demonstrators in a range of Turkish cities, including Istanbul, and made several arrests.

Enjoy there been any casualties?

There are reports of fatalities on both side.

The YPG stated no longer lower than 4 Turkish squaddies and 10 Syrian insurrection fighters supporting them had been killed in clashes on Sunday morning, however there has been no affirmation from Turkey.

The Kurdish community additionally stated eight civilians had been killed in an air strike on a hen farm within the village of Jalbara on Sunday. This follows no longer lower than nine deaths in strikes on Saturday – six civilians and three fighters – though Ankara stated they had been all Kurdish militants.

Now not lower than two Kurdish rockets personal hit the Turkish border city of Kilis within the previous 24 hours, and there had been reports of no longer lower than one fatality after three rockets had been fired at one other border city, Reyhanli, on Sunday.

The town’s mayor stated a Syrian national had died, and one other 32 had been wounded, in accordance to the NTV broadcaster.

Turkey’s defense power has been shelling the Afrin set of dwelling since Thursday, a circulation which it stated changed into once in accordance to fireplace coming from the space.

Why is Turkey focusing on US-backed groups?

With The United States’s backing of the YPG, Turkey’s unstable offensive places Ankara in teach incompatibility with its Nato ally, the BBC’s Impress Lowen on the Turkish-Syrian border warns.

There might possibly be additionally a hazard that the selection of these killed within the Syrian war – estimated to be half of a million – will rise yet again with the opening of this new front, he provides.

The YPG (Syrian Kurdish Of us’s Safety Objects) joined forces with ethnic Arab militias to form an anti-IS alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has been given toughen by the US.

Turkey, on the opposite hand, believes the community has hyperlinks to the banned PKK, and has for several months been threatening to obvious Kurdish fighters from Afrin and one other city, Manbij, which lies 100km away.

Turkey changed into once angered when the US announced it might possibly possibly maybe maybe presumably support the SDF alliance fabricate a new « border security power » to pause the return of IS. President Erdogan known as the border power a « dread military ».

The YPG and SDF train any terrorist hyperlinks – a remark backed by the US authorities.

How personal key players reacted?

Western powers, including the US and France, are urging restraint, and the UN Safety Council is as a consequence of take an emergency debate on Monday.

« They warned us earlier than they launched the plane they had been going to construct it, in consultation with us. And we’re working now on the trend ahead, » US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis knowledgeable journalists on Sunday.

« We’ll work this out, » he added.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad condemned the incursion on Sunday, asserting « the brutal Turkish aggression » on Afrin changed into once allotment of Ankara’s protection of « toughen for terrorism » in Syria.

Russia – a key ally of President Assad – additionally stated it changed into once concerned by the info, and withdrew a number of of its troops primarily primarily based within the space.

Moscow will put a question to Turkey pause its defense power operations at the UN assembly, in accordance to Russian senator Frants Klintsevich, who’s the deputy chairman of the defence and security committee.

Iran, one other Syria ally, known as for a short rupture to the operation « to pause a deepening of the crisis » within the border set of dwelling between the two nations.