Late on March 18, a booby-trapped bomb exploded in the Syrian city of Afrin killing at least 11 people, according to pro-Turkish sources. Following the incident, the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) accused the Kurdish People’s Protectino Units (YPG) of plating the bomb.
Earler the Kurdish leadership in Afrin [in exile] announced that the YPG would shift its strategy from a direct confrontation with Turkish forces to a guerrilla warfare.
Turkey’s presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin announced that “there is still work to do” in Afrin, according to Sky News.
“Afrin is a big area with several thousand people living there,” he said. “We are providing aid and we want to make sure that, especially inside the cities and in the houses, there are no mines, no traps.”
“So, there will be work to do in days to come but, at the same time, we will continue to provide humanitarian aid and also work with the locals to make sure they govern themselves – that their needs are provided.”
On March 19, reports appeared that the FSA attaked YPG positions west of the city of al-Bab in northern Aleppo. However, no real advance was reported in the area.
The TAF and the FSA are now working to secure the recently captured areas in Afrin and to crack down YPG cells remaining there.
Currently, one of the most important issues is the status of the town of Tell Rifaat, north of Aleppo. The town is formally controlled by the YPG. However, Syrian government forces had reportedly got coontrol over checkpoints near it. If the YPG does not had over the town to the Syrian Army formally. The FSA and the TAF may use this fact as a pretext to attack it.
FSA members are looting the city of Afrin:
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