Turkish APCs and IFVs pass through the Bab al-Salamah border crossing between Syria and Turkey in the north of Aleppo province, on January 21, 2018. © Nazeer al-Khatib / AFP
On February 7, the Turkish General Staff announced in a statement that 999 ‘terrorists’ had been neutralized since the start of Ankara’s Operation Olive Branch in the Syrian area of Afrin.
According to the statement, the Turkish military still argues that its forces combat some mysterious Daesh [ISIS] terrorists along side with Kurdish militais [YPG/YPJ/PKK] in the area.
Another interesting issue is that the Turkish Air Force allegdly neutralized 29 ‘terrorists’ overnight on February 7. So, the Turkish military said that it had resumed airstrikes on positions of the Kurdish forces.
Meanwhile, the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported that the Turkish Armed Forces and the Free Syrian Army had repelled a YPG attack on their positions west of Afrin overnight. However, no details were provided.
