Alwaght- Turkish said on Wednesday its military has killed 712 Kurdish militias and ISIS terrorists since the beginning of military incursion into Syria’s northwestern Afrin region on January 20.
According to a statement issued by the Turkish General Staff, the army “neutralized” 63 Kurdish and ISIS fighters on Wenesday.
The statement said seven Turkish jets safely returned to their bases after destroying some targets -- used as weapon pits, shelters, and ammunition depots by the Kurdish forces and ISIS terrorist groups.
Over the past days, the Kurds have been facing Turkey's so-called Operation Olive Branch, which was launched last Friday in a bid to eliminate the US-backed Kurdish YPG militants, which Ankara views as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). The latter has been fighting for an autonomous region inside Turkey since 1984.
Syria has condemned the Turkish aggression against its territory and vowed to respond with appropriate action.
France Warns Turkey over Syria Incursion
French President Emmanuel Macron warned Turkey that its operation against Kurdish militias in Afrin not become an excuse to invade Syria, calling on Ankara to coordinate its action with its allies.
“If it turns out that this operation takes a turn other than to fight a potential terrorist threat to the Turkish border and becomes an invasion operation, (then) this becomes a real problem for us,” Macon said in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper published on Wednesday.
Macron said he would bring the issue up again with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and that the nature of the operation meant there should be discussions between Europeans, but also more widely among allies.
