On February 21, the Turkish General Staff said that 1,780 ‘terrorits’ have been neutralized since the start of Operation Olive Branch in the Syrian area of Afrin. The statement claims that 65 ‘terroritss’ were neutralized in February 20 strikes conducted by the Turkish Air Force.
The numbers provided by the Turkish side are doubted by local sources. However, the term ‘neutralized’, which includes captured, wounded, slightly wounded and killed people, has allowed the Turkish media to counter the criticizm so far.
Meanwhile, YPG spokesman Nury Mahmoud commented on the recent deployment of Syrian government forces in the area of Afrin:
“After passing a month on the legendary resistance of our forces against the Turkish occupation army and the terrorist organizations allied with it; Jabhet al-Nusra, IS and others and inflicting vast damage in the equipment, our units called for the Syrian government and its army to do their duty and participate in defending Afrin and protecting the Syrian border against this brutal invasion.
And the Syrian government met the calling and responded to the defence duty, and sent military units on Tuesday, February 20, 2018 to station on the border and participate in defending the unity of the Syrian lands and its border,” Mahmoud said, according to the Kurdish news agency ANHA.
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