ISTANBUL - Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies seized control of the town of Jinderes on Thursday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, giving them control of one of the largest settlements in the northwest Afrin region.



Turkey's armed forces and its allies from Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions pushed the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia forces out of the town center on Thursday after capturing a hill overlooking the town a day earlier, Anadolu said, adding that operations to secure the area were continuing. </s> A Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army fighter gestures after Free Syrian Army forces took control of Kafr Jana village, north of Afrin, Syria. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies seized control of the town of Jinderes on Thursday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, giving them control of one of the largest settlements in Syria’s northwest Afrin region.

The Turkish army and its allies from Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions pushed fighters from the Syrian Kurdish YPG out of the town center on Thursday following intense clashes, it said, adding that operations to secure the area were continuing.

Air raids on the Jinderes town center had intensified after Turkish forces and the FSA captured the hill overlooking it a day earlier, Anadolu said.

Turkey and its allies have so far seized five of the seven urban centers in the Afrin region, it said.

Turkey launched its air and ground assault on Afrin, dubbed Operation Olive Branch, in January to drive out the YPG, which it sees as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has waged an insurgency on Turkish soil since 1984. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Turkey’s foreign minister said on Thursday the operation will be completed by May.

On Tuesday, Kurdish-allied Syrian Arab militias said they are redeploying 1,700 fighters from fronts against Islamic State to the Afrin region to help fend off the Turkish offensive.

The United States, which has infuriated Turkey with its support for the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said Turkey’s offensive on Afrin has diverted attention from the fight against Islamic State. </s> Out of all major settlements in the region, only the town of Afrin remains under control of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the Daily Sabah newspaper reported.

Meantime, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reported that the Turkish artillery shelling and airstrikes in Syria's Afrin have resulted in 165 civilian victims over six weeks.

"According to the official statistics of the health authorities, 165 civilians were killed, including 28 women and 32 children in Turkish artillery shelling and airstrikes. Moreover, 650 civilians were injured, including 93 women and 87 children," the statement said.

According to the statement, 283 SDF members were killed during the operation.

"A total of 1588 members of terrorist groups and Turkish soldiers were killed… Our forces destroyed 96 armored vehicles belonging to the Turkish invasion army and terrorist groups, including tanks and armored cars," the SDF said.

Turkish troops have lost 42 officers since the operation's beginning, according to the Turkish General Staff.

READ MORE: Turkey Announces Preliminary End Date of Olive Branch Op in Afrin

On January 20, Ankara, jointly with the opposition Free Syrian Army forces, launched Operation Olive Branch in Afrin in order to "clear" Turkey's Syrian border from the terrorist threat. Turkey considers the PYD, a Kurdish political party in northern Syria, as well as the YPG militia, to be linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated as a terrorist organization in Turkey and several other countries. Damascus has condemned the operation as a violation of Syria's sovereignty.

*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia </s> Turkish forces and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) opposition group have captured the city centre of Afrin in Syria, which was previously controlled by Kurdish fighters, Turkish military forces and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

"The Turkish armed forces and Free Syrian Army have taken the control of Afrin's city centre," the Turkish military said in a tweet on Sunday, adding that experts were searching for landmines and other sorts of explosive traps in the area.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also announced that Turkey-backed forces took complete control of the city centre at 8:30am local time (05:00 GMT).

The armed forces shared a video in a separate tweet allegedly showing the Turkish flag hoisted in the city centre of Afrin.

Other videos and photos shared by the Turkish-backed FSA fighters on social media showed them in residential streets, making victory signs and waving flags. Al Jazeera cannot independently confirm their authenticity.

Turkey - together with the FSA - in January launched a military operation into Afrin in the northwest of Syria to vanquish the US-backed Kurdish People's Protection (YPG) fighters near its border.

Turkey considers the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria and its armed wing YPG to be "terrorist groups" with ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK has waged a decades-long armed fight against the Turkish state that has killed tens of thousands of people.

The PYD/YPG has come to control large swaths of northern Syria, including Afrin, in the course of the Syrian war, particularly through fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in an US-backed umbrella organisation named Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The US support for SDF has infuriated Turkey and created the ongoing diplomatic crisis between the two NATO allies. </s> Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters fire an anti-aircraft gun during battles with Kurdish fighters on the outskirts of the town of Jandairis, in the region of Afrin, near the Turkish border on Wednesday (AFP photo)

QAMISHLI, Syria — Hundreds of kilometres away from family and friends, facing an attack by Turkey, Kurdish and Arab forces deployed in the eastern Syrian Desert against extremists have become increasingly frustrated.

Six weeks into the Turkey-led assault on the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, young men and women are leaving the fight against the Daesh group in droves, heading west to help.

Kurdish militia have formed the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance that has successfully expelled Daesh from much of Syria with the backing of a US-led military coalition.

But as news of the battle in Afrin reaches them, the fighters have become reluctant to hunt down extremists in their last hideouts in Deir Ezzor province.

“We’re preparing to head to Afrin,” SDF fighter Roshavam Qamishlo told AFP on Saturday. The enclave “needs us now more than ever”.

He spoke at the funeral of three comrades-in-arms in the northeastern town of Qamishli, where dozens came to pay their respects to those killed in Deir Ezzor.

“They should have died in Afrin,” he said, as their coffins were displayed in the middle of the crowd, draped in the Kurdish colours of yellow, red and green.

Arab fighters, too, have opted to ditch battlefronts against Daesh to shore up lines of defence in Afrin.

On Tuesday, SDF commander Abu Omar Al Idlibi said 1,700 of his fighters — mostly Arabs from northern Syria whose families had sought refuge in Afrin — would be sent to defend the enclave in the coming week.

Afrin, which is controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, is one of three regions Syria’s Kurds hope will be part of a self-ruled federal region in the country’s north.

Turkey sees the YPG as a “terrorist” group and has bombarded the region with air strikes and artillery fire since January 20.

More than 170 civilians have died in the assault, says the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor.

Ankara, however, denies the claim and says it takes the “utmost care” to avoid civilian casualties.

The offensive has prompted a call-to-arms for the YPG and SDF, and one senior SDF official said that “hundreds of fighters from Afrin and who have relatives there have returned to defend” their people.

As a result, the US-led coalition declared an “operational pause” to its anti-Daesh fight in eastern Syria on Monday.

US and coalition officials have said they will not get involved in the Afrin fighting, and expressed concern it would detract from the SDF’s operations against Daesh.

In addition to reinforcements from Daesh battlefronts, other fighters have streamed into Afrin from Qamishli, Hasakeh in the northeast and Kobane further west, says Rezan Hedo, an adviser to the YPG in Afrin.

Others even travelled from the Kurdish neighbourhood of Sheikh Maqsud in the northern city of Aleppo, Hedo tells AFP.

In Qamishli, another fighter, who gave his nom de guerre as Nushin Qamishlo, said he would also join the fight on the Turkish border.

“We all want to go,” said the 25-year-old, who sported a thick beard and whose head was wrapped in a bright blue scarf.

“We’re highly capable and will take on the Turks even without the coalition’s help.”

Fighter Al Ashqar Nuseen feared that losing Afrin could be a huge blow to his long-awaited dreams of a federal Syrian Kurdish region.

“We will defend Afrin with all our might, taking on the Turks like we did Daesh,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for Daesh.

Ali Omar, 65, a Syrian Kurdish bystander at the funeral in Qamishli, said he supported the Kurdish fighters withdrawing from Deir Ezzor.

“When it’s our interests, our people, our villages and our towns that are threatened, we’re forced to leave everything and head to defend our homeland,” he said.

But he questioned why the US-led coalition, which the Kurds have aided in its fight against Daesh in Syria, had not intervened to help the Kurds in Afrin.

“Why are we helping you in Deir Ezzor and other places, and you don’t help us in Afrin?”

Without help from any outside power, Syria’s Kurds have found themselves in the awkward position of having to ask for support from the Damascus regime.

Since last month, pro-regime fighters have been deployed alongside Kurdish fighters in Afrin on several fronts.

Abdel Salam Ahmad, a high-ranking official of the Kurdish Democratic that Society Movement, said Syria’s Kurds have lost faith in the international community.

“This region will not find stability until a fair solution is found for the Kurdish people,” he said. </s> Turkish troops have cleared “terrorists” from a strategic village in the Kurdish-held enclave in north-western Syria, Turkey’s prime minister has said.

Turkish troops have cleared “terrorists” from a strategic village in the Kurdish-held enclave in north-western Syria, Turkey’s prime minister has said.

Mr Yildirim said Turkish soldiers captured Rajo in Afrin district and pushed the “terrorists” back from the border with Turkey, tightening its grip on Kurdish militia in the sixth week of its offensive on the area.

Mr Yildirim told a rally the Kurdish Afrin district was surrounded by the military, special police and paramilitary forces, as well as allied Syrian opposition fighters. “We have cleared all areas near our borders of terror nests,” he said.

A fighter of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army secures Mersewa village in the greater Afrin district, Syria (Emrah Gurel/AP) The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict, said fierce clashes were still ongoing in Rajo, in north-west Afrin. If confirmed, Rajo would be the largest centre in Afrin to be captured since the Turkish offensive began on January 20.

Turkish borders run along Afrin’s western and northern borders. A Syrian territory controlled by Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters lies to the east. Syrian government forces control territory in the south. Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters have been attacking Afrin from the north, west and east, and have formed a crescent around the district.

Turkey said it wants to oust the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, from Afrin, considering the group a terrorist organisation, an extension of a Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. Turkish soldiers hold a position on a hill in the greater Afrin district (Emrah Gurel/AP) Turkey said 41 of its soldiers have been killed since the operation began.

The US has no troops in Afrin, but said it fears the Turkish offensive could distract from the fight against IS in the east.

Complicating matters, fighters loyal to Syria’s government entered Afrin late last month to support the Syrian Kurdish militia, raising the spectre of a possible confrontation between Turkish and pro-government Syrian troops. The government continued its offensive against eastern Ghouta, a rebel-held region near the Syrian capital Damascus, despite a Russian-ordered five-hour humanitarian pause. A UN 30-day ceasefire has failed to take hold.

A Turkey-backed opposition fighter of the Free Syrian Army in the greater Afrin district (Emrah Gurel/AP) Syrian activists and rescuers said at least six civilians were killed in the ongoing bombing on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Syrian State TV said on Saturday that two children escaped from the region under gunfire from the rebels, who control eastern Ghouta.

Syrian government and Russian officials accuse the rebels of firing at a corridor set up for evacuation, preventing civilians from leaving. The corridor, manned by Russia military police and Syrian troops, has been set to open for five hours daily since Tuesday. An elderly Pakistani couple managed to leave after negotiations. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Syrian Civil Defence said six civilians were killed on Saturday in government bombings in eastern Ghouta. </s> The Syrian Democratic Forces have downed a Turkish helicopter in the Syrian city of Afrin, an SDF representative told Sputnik Saturday.Earlier this day, the SDF reported that the group's militia had downed two Turkish reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in the village of Adama, northern Syria.The group also engaged in skirmishes with a Turkish convoy in the Chia district of Afrin and with Turkish forces, supported by the Free Syrian Army, in Qastal Ma'af.Kurdish militia has downed two Turkish reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in the village of Adama, northern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces' (SDF) media center reported Saturday.Beyond that, the media center stated that the SDF also attacked a Turkish military convoy in the Chia district, killing two Turkish soldiers.According to the report, Turkey continues to bomb Afrin, especially the districts of Jabal Bafalon and Chia. The SDF, in their turn, are repelling the attacks of the Turkish forces, supported by the Free Syrian Army, on Qastal Ma'af, which is a strategically important point, and have managed to destroy an armored vehicle.Turkey has been conducting the Olive Branch military operation in the Kurdish-dominated Syrian town of Afrin since January 20. The town is controlled by the US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which is considered to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated as a terrorist group by Turkey and several other countries. According to Ankara, the offensive is not aimed against the Syrian government; the latter, however, described the operation as a violation of Syria's sovereignty. </s> BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

The European Union’s top diplomat is criticizing Turkey over its military offensive in a northern Syrian town and is calling on Ankara to ensure that fighting eases in the conflict-torn country.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini says: “I am worried about this.”

Mogherini told reporters in Brussels on Monday that international efforts in Syria are supposed to be “aiming at de-escalating the military activities and not escalating them.”

She urged Turkey, Russia and Iran to guarantee that conflict “de-escalation zones” are established as promised, to “guarantee that that is what happens on the ground.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday the capture of the town of Afrin, previously controlled by the Kurdish militia known as the People’s Defense Units, or YPG.

Turkey’s state-run news agency says a booby trap bomb reportedly left by Syrian Kurdish fighters in the northern Syrian town of Afrin has killed 11 people — seven civilians and four Turkish-backed fighters.

Anadolu Agency says the explosion occurred late on Sunday in a four-story building that Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces were clearing for explosives.

Turkish troops and Syrian opposition fighters allied with Ankara marched into Afrin on Sunday, nearly two months after Turkey began its offensive on the enclave to drive out a Syrian Kurdish militia. Ankara considers the militia an extension of its own insurgency.

Kurdish officials and a war monitor say some pockets of resistance remain in the town of Afrin but the Kurdish militia, known as YPG, has largely withdrawn.

A Syria war monitoring group says Turkish-allied militiamen are looting the northern Syrian town of Afrin after the Turkish military and allied Syrian fighters seized control of it.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday the looting began on Sunday, after the Turkish and allied Syrian forces marched into the town center and raised their flags there — nearly two months after the offensive on the Kurdish enclave started.

The troops faced little resistance from the Kurdish militia, which withdrew, vowing a “new phase” of guerrilla tactics against Turkish troops and their allied fighters.

The Observatory, which monitors Syria’s war through a network of activists on the ground, described extensive looting of shops, homes and cars in Afrin.

It’s unclear what Turkey plans after the capture of Afrin. </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.
The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army seizes control of Jindires in Syria's Afrin District from the Kurdish YPG. The town is extensively destroyed by Turkish airstrikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.