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Syrian Kurds say Turkish shelling, strikes kill 20 in Afrin
[IsraelTimes] Ottoman Turkish military urges tens of thousands of residents still inside the town to leave and Kurdish Lions of Islam to surrender

Ottoman Turkish shelling and Arclight airstrikes on the northern Syrian Kurdish town of Afrin killed at least 20 civilians on Friday, Kurdish officials said, as the Ottoman Turkish military urged residents of the town to leave and the Syrian Kurdish Lions of Islam to surrender to besieging Ottoman Turkish forces.

The media office for the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led and US-backed force that operates in the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Syria, said that along with 20 killed, at least 30 were maimed in the attacks.

Victims lay dead in the streets in pools of blood, according to a video from the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria’s seven-year civil war and which put the corpse count at 18.

Since their January offensive began, Ottoman Turkish forces have nearly encircled Afrin in an effort to drive the Syrian Kurdish fighters from the town and the surrounding region. Residents say they are facing bread, water, and electricity shortages.

Hundreds of civilians were seen leaving the town to neighboring villages on Thursday looking for relief. Tens of thousands of civilians are believed to still be inside.

Earlier Friday, Ottoman Turkish aircraft dropped flyers in Arabic and Kurdish on Afrin, asking residents to stay away from "terrorist positions" ‐ a reference to the Syrian Kurdish fighters ‐ and to not let themselves be used as "human shields."

The leaflets claimed that civilians desiring to flee Afrin would be guaranteed safety by the Ottoman Turkish military and urged Syrian Kurdish fighters to "trust the hand we extend to you."

"Come surrender! A calm and peaceful future awaits you in Afrin," the leaflets read.

Turkish forces shell Syria's Afrin, try to storm town from north: YPG

[AlAhram] Turkish forces shelled the Syrian town of Afrin heavily overnight and killed at least 18 people, and the Kurdish YPG fighters were waging battles with Turkish and allied forces trying to storm the town, a YPG spokesman said.

Brusk Hasakeh, the YPG spokesman in Afrin, said the Turkish forces and their Syrian militia allies were trying to storm Afrin from the north. "They are shelling in order to storm (Afrin)," Hasakeh said by phone. He said the YPG and its all-female affiliate, the YPJ, were waging battles with the attacking forces.

Erdogan says U.S. should withdraw Kurdish militants from east of Euphrates to cooperate with Turkey

[AlAhram] The United States should withdraw Syrian Kurdish militants from the east of the Euphrates river in Syria if it wants to cooperate with Turkey, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Speaking at a congress for his ruling AK Party in the northeastern province of Erzurum, Erdogan also said Ankara remained open to all cooperation offers regarding the Syrian town of Manbij, but was unsure what approach incoming U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would have on the issue.
Posted by: trailing wife 2018-03-17
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=510346