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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Turkey-led forces advance on one of Afrin’s largest towns following latest gains against Kurdish fighters
2018-02-12
[ALMASDARNEWS] Following a new day of gains, the Ottoman Turkish Army and allied Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
 militias are now advancing on one of the largest towns in Syria’s Afrin region. It is unclear weather or not Kurdish forces will attempt to defend the stronghold.

On Sunday morning, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
-led forces resumed their assault across Afrin from multiple directions.

In the region’s northeast, Free Syrian Army rebels ‐ backed up by Ottoman Turkish Army support fire ‐ managed to seize the villages of Saar Najkeh and Arabiwiran as well as the a string of hilltops nearby to them.

In the south Afrin, pro-Ankara forces captured the village of Haj Iskandar after hours of festivities with Kurdish rear-guard units.

The taking of Haj Iskandar has now put Turkey-led forces within three kilometers of the town of Jandairis ‐ one of the largest population centers in the Afrin region and, presumably, a stronghold for Kurdish paras.

In any case, it remains to be seen whether or not Kurdish forces make a determined fight to hold Jandairis when the inevitable attack by the Ottoman Turkish Army and allied militias comes.

Posted by:Fred

#4  

These are the YPG kill boxes in green along. Yellow is the traditional Afrin Canton. The green indentions at the top and left side of the maps were for the most part the same 23 days ago. They have not changed much at all.

The Turks cannot do a thunder run for two reasons; 1) The mountains. Several Turk road construction pieces were destroyed by the YPG preventing the Turk armor from having the ability to clear the mountains. 2) When tank does get to the front line or beyond, it is easily taken out by ATGMs.

The YPG cannot fire across the border into Turkey or the NATO agreement is triggered that requires NATO to come to NATO allie Turkey.

The Turks have the ability to race back across the border to regroup and attack again. In one battle the Turks and their Islamic FSA attacked 4 times in the North but lost dozens of people.

At the same time, the YPG is getting stronger and stronger as help arrives from across the region. They are now venturing behind the FSA/Turk lines at AZAZ to the right in guerilla search and destroy missions against the Turks at their assembly points.

The YPG has come a long way since Kobane and fighting with rusty AK47s. Many commenters here said they needed artillery. Now they have artillery and ATGMs and the mountains.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056   2018-02-12 18:43  

#3  Thank you so much for explaining, Omeger Gray6606! Deliberate kill boxes had not occurred to me.
Posted by: trailing wife   2018-02-12 10:01  

#2  Yesterday it was reported with video that a Turk helicopter was downed. What was not reported was a second larger helicopter was downed killing 9 Turks being transported in the Afrin area.
Posted by: Omeger Gray6606   2018-02-12 04:53  

#1  These are kill boxes the YPG is using against the Turks. They are pockets of Syrian areas the Kurds are using as kill zones since they are not attacking the Turks on Turkish soil which would trigger NATO member defence agreements.

The Turks loose blood everytime they advance and then more come in to die to try to hold the ground. The Kurds are giving and then retaking ground every day.
Posted by: Omeger Gray6606   2018-02-12 04:28  

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