Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies swept into the northwestern Syrian town of Afrin on Sunday, raising their flags in the town centre and declaring full control after an eight-week campaign to drive out Kurdish YPG forces. A spokesman for the rebel fighters said they entered Afrin before dawn, meeting no resistance. A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said pockets of YPG fighters were defying orders to withdraw, but Turkish forces were in control. Our special forces and members of the Free Syrian Army are cleaning the remains and the traps they left behind,” Erdogan said. France’s foreign minister said Turkey’s concerns for its border security did not justify “the deep incursion of Turkish troops in the Afrin zone,” which could also weaken international action against remaining Islamic State fighters in Syria.

Source: Dhaka Tribune March 18, 2018 13:41 UTC