ANKARA, Jan. 21 -- Turkish ground troops entered Syria's Afrin Sunday on the second day of an offensive against U.S-backed Kurdish militia which should be wrapped up soon, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey on Saturday launched the operation dubbed "Operation Olive Branch" with intense air raids and shelling seeking to oust from the Afrin region of northern Syria the Peoples' Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers as a terror group affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Ankara has been angered by the YPG's expansion in northern Syria, fearing that it may create a de facto state at its border and declared its military offensive as a measure to protect local populations in Afrin from the clutches of sectarian Kurdish ambitions.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told press in Istanbul that troops had crossed into the YPG-controlled region in Syria at 11:05 a.m. local time (0805 GMT) from Turkey.
Turkish artillery and warplanes pounded YPG sites around Afrin and a total of 153 targets, including YPG refuges and ammunition depots, have been hit, according to a statement of the army.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said the Turkish troops were advancing alongside forces from the pro-Ankara rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) and were already 5 km inside Syria by Sunday afternoon.
According to Yildirim, there are nearly "8,000 to 10,000 terrorists" in Afrin.
【国际英语资讯:Turkish troops enter Syrias Afrin on second day of offensive】相关文章:
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