Seven Turkish soldiers were killed on Saturday during Operation Olive Branch, according to a Turkish General Staff statement.

The statement said one soldier was killed in clashes with PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG and ISIL terror groups and the other in Turkey's Kilis province in an attack perpetrated by the same terror groups.

Later on Saturday, the Turkish General Staff said five more soldiers had been killed in Sheikh Haruz, northeast of Afrin, when the terrorist group targeted a Turkish army tank.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim expressed his condolences in a statement on Twitter.

“They will pay for this twice as much. We have given the necessary response instantly, and we continue to do so,” Yildirim said.

Immediately after the attack at Sheikh Haruz, an air operation targeting terrorist shelters, hideouts and weapon emplacements in the area was launched at 5.52 p.m. local time (1452GMT).

Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on Jan. 20 along with Free Syrian Army (FSA) to clear PYD/PKK and ISIL terrorists from Afrin, northwestern Syria.

Since the start of the operation, the PYD/PKK has carried out cross-border attacks on Turkey by firing rockets on civilian neighborhoods.

According to the Turkish General Staff, Operation Olive Branch aims to establish security and stability along Turkish borders and the region as well as to protect Syrians from terrorist oppression and cruelty.

The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN Charter, and respect for Syria's territorial integrity. </s> Ankara :Two more Turkish soldiers were killed Sunday in Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish militia inside Syria, the army said, bringing to 16 the number killed so far in the incursion.

Turkey on January 20 launched the “Olive Branch” operation against Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia which Ankara sees as a terror group and a threat to Turkish territory. APP </s> Turkey’s military says it has suffered its single deadliest day in its offensive against Syrian militias in northern Syria.

Five were killed in the Afrin region when their tank came under attack.

Two soldiers were killed earlier in the day, one near the tank attack, the other along Turkey’s border with Syria.

In retaliation Turkey said its jets later struck Kurdish targets in the area from which the attack on the tank came.

Turkey’s “Olive Branch” operation was launched late last month against the YPG, Kurdish forces in Syria, a militia seen by Ankara as a terrorist group linked to Kurdish separatists in Turkey. Turkey has lost a total of 14 soldiers in its operation.

Ibrahim Kalin, a Turkish presidential spokesman, said Saturday that Turkey will not tolerate the presence of the YPG anywhere along it border with Syria. </s> Earlier in the day, the Turkish General Staff reported about five servicemen killed in Afrin operation, including two servicemen killed during the crash of a Turkish ATAK helicopter in the area.

"Two more our comrades-in-arms were killed on February 10 during Olive Branch operation, and four were injured. Eleven members of the PYD [Kurdish Democratic Union Party], the YPG [Kurdish People's Protection Units] and IS [Daesh] terrorist organizations were killed," the statement said.

Turkey has neutralized over 1,000 Kurdish militants since the start of its Afrin offensive. At least 26 Turkish servicemen were killed and over 70 were injured during the operation. Damascus has expressed its opposition to the Turkish operation in Afrin, slamming such actions as violation of Syrian sovereignty. </s> Turkey says Saturday 41 of its soldiers have been killed in Syria’s northwestern region of Afrin, where the Turkish military has been engaged in a ground operation against US-backed Kurdish militants for more than a month.

 Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli made the announcement in a speech delivered at Istanbul National Defense University on Friday, adding that 95 villages or hamlets had come under their control during the so-called Operation Olive Branch. Canikli further said that 116 members of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) militant group, which has joined Turkish troops in their campaign against members of the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG).

 Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency quoted Canikli as saying that 2,295 militants of Kurdish factions and Daesh terrorists had been “neutralized” in the offensive, which was launched on January 19.

 The Turkish government has said the recent United Nations Security Council resolution on a month-long ceasefire in Syria will have no effect on its cross-border operations.

 Ankara views the YPG as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Ties between Ankara and Washington has further soured over the latter’s support for the Kurdish militants operating at Turkish doorstep. Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch, its second military intervention in Syia since 2011, after Washington said it would set up a border force comprising 30,000 Kurdish militants near Turkish soil.—Agencies </s> According to sources with the Free Syrian Army that controls the city of Afrin, the blast occurred near the Turanda highway, killing 11 people. Police have reportedly blamed militants from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) for the incident.

Over a year ago Ankara and the FSA forces that oppose President Bashar al-Assad launched Operation Olive Branch in the northern Syrian district of Afrin in order to repel the YPG and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) from Turkey's Syrian border.

Since March 2018 the city has been under the complete control of the FSA and Turkish forces. </s> Turkey's Prime Minister warned that Kurdish YPG forces will pay "twice as much" following the deaths of seven Turkish soldiers in Syria's Afrin province.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim made the threat in a tweet Saturday, Turkey's state media said, which marked Turkey's deadliest day in its military operation dubbed "Operation Olive Branch" in northern Syria.

Turkish forces entered the Afrin area in an attempt to drive US-backed, Syrian-Kurdish YPG militia from the area last month.

Five Turkish soldiers were killed when a tank was destroyed by a missile in Sheikh Haruz, northeast of Afrin, Turkish state media reported.

Footage of the attack, released by the militia's media center, showed a speck of light flying across a field, hurling toward a distant target. Moments later, a tank explodes in a powerful ball of orange flames.

Turkish armed forces said a sixth soldier was killed near the border town of Kilis, and another died in an undisclosed location fighting militia forces, Anadolu reported.

Turkey launched "Operation Olive Branch" on January 20 with the aim of ending the US-allied militia control of Afrin and the surrounding region along the Syrian-Turkish border. Turkey has long wanted to establish a safe zone: a 19-mile-wide strip of land in Syria along the border that Turkey helps control.

In Ankara's eyes, Syrian Kurds are virtually indistinguishable from Kurdish separatists in Turkey, a group it has long considered terrorists. The Kurdish YPG control a large chunk of northern Syria, so a safe zone would create a buffer along the border.

The risk to US relations

Turkey's high-stakes incursion in Afrin risks inflaming tensions even further with its NATO ally, the US, which is funding the very group Turkey is trying to defeat, the Kurdish YPG, in the fight against ISIS.

Shortly after their assault began, Turkish forces said they had killed 260 Kurdish and ISIS fighters in the region. The claim can't be independently verified, and CNN has no indication there are ISIS fighters in the area that Turkey is fighting.

Speaking with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone, US President Donald Trump talked tough, saying Turkey's "Operation Olive Branch," targeting the US-backed Kurdish fighters, risked undercutting shared goals in Syria, according to the White House. Trump warned Erdogan against escalating military action in the region. Turkish officials immediately disputed that account of the call, saying the two leaders simply exchanged views on the situation.

Erdogan has also slammed the US plan to back a border protection force for Kurds in northern Syria in an effort to train and equip them to keep ISIS from coming back in, calling the effort "building an army of terror," according to Turkish state media.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin old CNN their operation isn't against the Kurds of Afrin or Syria.

"This is an operation against a terrorist network that claims to represent the Kurds, which is far from the truth," he said.

Kalin cited Amnesty International in pointing out that the PYD/YPG has committed war crimes by razing villages and forcibly removing local communities from their native lands.

He said the operation aims to remedy the situation and facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their country.

"The primary goal of the operation is to clear Syrian territories of all terrorist groups," he explained, saying Turkey has fought against ISIS and cooperated with its allies in eliminating ISIS terrorists. "It is deadly wrong to think that the PKK does not pose a threat to Western countries and therefore should be seen as Turkey's problem." </s> Seven Turkish soldiers were killed Saturday in Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish militia inside Syria, including five who died in a single attack on a tank, the army said.

The losses marked the highest toll in one day for the Turkish military in operation “Olive Branch”, launched in Syria on January 20 against Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia seen by Ankara as a terror group.

The attack on the tank, details of which were not disclosed, was also the single deadliest attack on the military of the offensive so far.

The latest clashes brought to 14 the number of Turkish troops killed so far in operation.

The Turkish army and allied Ankara-backed Syrian rebel forces are seeking to oust the YPG from its western border stronghold of Afrin but the operation so far has been marked by fierce clashes.

The army said that one of the soldiers was killed in a clash and another on the border area, without giving further details.

In a later statement, it added a Turkish army tank had been hit in another attack, killing all five servicemen inside.

A previous statement said one serviceman was killed and another wounded in that attack.

In retaliation, Turkish war planes carried out air strikes on the area from where the attack was carried out, destroying shelters and munitions dumps, it added.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday the Turkish army and Ankara-backed rebels had suffered 25 fatalities between them in the operation so far.

Meanwhile, seven civilians have been killed in mortar fire on the Turkish side of the border that Ankara blames on the YPG.

Ankara says that major progress has been made in the 15-day operation, with almost 900 YPG fighters killed so far although it is not possible to verify these figures.

Erdogan on Saturday sought to reassure France’s Emmanuel Macron over the operation, telling the French leader it was aimed against “terror elements” and that Ankara had no eye on Syrian territory.

Macron had incensed Turkish officials by saying in a newspaper interview last week that France would have a “real problem” with the campaign if it turned out to be an “invasion operation”.

During the phone call, “the two presidents agreed to work on a diplomatic roadmap in Syria in the coming weeks”, the Elysee Palace said in a statement.

Erdogan said in a speech Saturday that the Turkish forces were beginning to take mountain positions and would now head towards Afrin itself. “There is not much to go,” he said.

Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin meanwhile told journalists in Istanbul that the operation was going as planned but there was no timetable for its duration and it would “continue until we clear all those areas”.

But analysts and monitors say Turkey so far has taken control of limited clumps of territory around the border without yet approaching Afrin town.

Turkey says the YPG is an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.

However, the YPG has been working closely with the United States to fight the Islamic State extremist group in Syria.

The offensive by Washington’s fellow NATO member Ankara on a US-allied force has even raised fears of a military confrontation between two alliance powers. </s> ANKARA: Three more Turkish soldiers were killed Saturday in Turkey's offensive against Kurdish militia inside Syria, including one in an attack on a tank, the army said.



The latest clashes brought to 10 the number of Turkish troops killed so far in operation "Olive Branch", launched by Turkey on January 20 against Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia seen by Ankara as a terror group.

The Turkish army and allied Ankara-backed Syrian rebel forces are seeking to oust the YPG from its western border stronghold of Afrin but the operation so far has been marked by fierce clashes.

The army said that one of the soldiers was killed in a clash and another on the border area, without giving further details.

In a separate statement, it added a Turkish army tank had been hit in another attack, killing one serviceman and wounding another.

In retaliation, Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes on the area from where the attack was carried out, destroying shelters and munitions dumps, it added.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday the Turkish army and Ankara-backed rebels had suffered 25 fatalities between them in the operation so far.

Meanwhile, seven civilians have been killed in mortar fire on the Turkish side of the border that Ankara blames on the YPG.

Ankara says that major progress has been made in the operation, with hundreds of YPG fighters killed so far although it is not possible to verify these figures.

Erdogan said in a speech Saturday that the Turkish forces were beginning to take mountain positions and would now head towards Afrin itself. "There is not much to go," he said.

Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin meanwhile told journalists in Istanbul that the operation was going as planned but there was no timetable for its duration and it would "continue until we clear all those areas."

But analysts and monitors say Turkey so far has taken control of limited clumps of territory around the border without yet approaching near Afrin town.

Turkey says the YPG is an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers´ Party (PKK) which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.

But the YPG has been working closely with the United States to fight Daesh in Syria.

The offensive by Washington's fellow NATO member Ankara on a US-allied force has even raised fears of a military confrontation between two alliance powers.
The Turkish Army suffers its deadliest day of Operation Olive Branch so far after seven soldiers are killed in clashes with the Kurdish YPG.