Map of Syria
This large-scale military operation will be carried out by the Turkish-backed Euphrates Shield Forces, with logistical and air support from Ankara.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) currently control Menbeij, which is an imperative city in northeastern Aleppo that is as once an Islamic State (ISIS) stronghold.
Comment: The Turkish-backed "Syrian Interim Government"
has announced that military operations with Turkish-backing has not only begun in Afrin, but also in Manbij.
Manbij is significant as unlike in Afrin, where operations have already begun, it hosts US military personnel illegally operating in Syria.
Turkey as a NATO member, just like the US, could see their partners fleeing as the Turkish military and its proxy forces advance against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
Overnight, underground cells of the Free Syrian Army distributed letters to civilians to tell them about the upcoming operation. Details can be read here.
Anadolu news agency and Al Mayadeen confirmed fighting
in Azaz. 153 targets were hit as of last night, according to Ankara.
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey would not take a step back from the operation in the Afrin region. He also said that Ankara had an agreement with Russia regarding its military operation against a US-backed Kurdish militia.
Speaking in Ankara, Erdogan stressed that he wants to support the national security and territorial integrity of Syria as Turkey "has no designs on territories of another country."
Turkish towns in Hatay province have been hit with multiple missiles fired from northern Syria for two days in a row. The latest strike occurred on Monday, when a missile from Syria struck a Turkish camp where Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters were located, killing two people and wounding 12, according to the Dogan news agency.
Erdogan has threatened that the attackers will pay a "heavy price" for hitting Turkish territory. The Turkish leader has also vowed to complete the Afrin operation "in a very short time."
Meanwhile, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) vowed to send reinforcements to the Afrin region to repel the Turkish offensive.
"We are in the framework of looking at the possibility of sending more military forces to Afrin," SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel said, as cited by Reuters. The statement came following the Turkish prime minister's warning that any party providing logistical support to YPG militants in the region will become a target of Turkey's military.
So NATO member Turkey is fighting the SDF, who are supported by NATO member U.S. What a concept! See also:
According to the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, over a thousand women and children have fled from Afrin.
According to a Kurdish representative in Moscow, Rodi Osman, SDF militants struck
five positions of the Turks/FSA, forcing them to retreat from the territory they had gained. Osman claimed that 17 civilians had been killed, 28 injured, along with 10 Turkish soldiers and 20 rebels killed. However, Anadolu claimed that the Turks had established control over 11 positions in Afrin, including Shankal, Korne, Bali, Ada, Manli, among others.
See also:
Aleppo is once again in the cross-hairs of targeting to create a land connection from Iraq to the Med to send oil to the EU.