Monitoring Desk
ANKARA: At least 597 PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists have been “neutralized” since the beginning of Operation Olive Branch in Syria, the Turkish General Staff said on Monday. On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch along with Free Syrian Army (FSA) to clear PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin, northwestern Syria.
Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralized” in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured. In a statement, the military said Turkish Armed Forces had destroyed 44 terrorist targets in airstrikes that were carried out overnight. According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey’s 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, it said. The military also said only terror targets were being destroyed and the “utmost importance and sensitivity” were being used to not harm civilians. It added that four Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army members were slightly injured during the operation.
The operation “successfully” continues as planned, said the statement. Afrin has been a major hideout for the PYD/PKK since July 2012, when the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without putting up a fight.
Meanwhile, Turkish soldiers have rescued a disabled woman in Hammam village in Syria’s northwestern district of Afrin, according to a district governor Monday. The Free Syrian Army, backed by the Turkish Armed Forces, last Tuesday captured the Hammam village, which lies in a strategic location the terrorist PYD/PKK group had been using it to attack Turkey’s southern Reyhanli district in Hatay province.
The soldiers found the exhausted disabled woman during their search of houses in the village. The woman was initially brought to the first aid tent of Turkey’s National Medical Research Team (UMKE) which was set on the border line via an armored ambulance of Turkish Ministry of Health. After an initial check-up, she was referred to a state hospital in Hatay. Hatay’s Kumlu District Governor Adnan Karaosmanoglu visited the UMKE tent and told Anadolu Agency that due sensitivity was being shown to civilians during the ongoing operation in Afrin. “Our soldiers found her alone and on verge of death because of PYD [/PKK] elements, in Hammam village, which is just on the other side of Turkey’s border,” Karaosmanoglu said.
Turkey is now taking care of the disabled woman and providing her with the necessary treatment, he added. On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to clear PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin. According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey’s borders and the region as well as protect Syrians from terrorist oppression and cruelty.
