Introduction

With the defeat of the IS in Syria and especially after the liberation of Raqqa in October 2017, the Turkish state intensified its threats and attacks on the Democratic Confederation of Northern Syria. On this background the Turkish occupation war on Afrin started on the 20th January 2018 violating international law and the sovereignty of its neighbour country.

The Turkish army has launched this war in cooperation with jihadist groups of the FSA ranks. Many of them are former Al-Qaida or IS members. Since the beginning of March, all districts and the city centre of Afrin had been under heavy bombardments, shelling and drone surveillance by the Turkish army targeting especially civilians.

On March 18th more than 200,000 people left the town centre and were evacuated in order to avoid a physical genocide. Since then the majority of refugees are staying in the Shehba region without security guarantees or international support.

In this new phase, the confrontation between the international powers and their interests is increasing all over Syria.

Last week’s Developments inside Afrin

After 78 days of resistance against Turkish occupation war, hundreds of thousands of people from Afrin Canton are still displaced and facing difficult conditions. The Turkish army and its jihadist allies are implementing ethnic cleansing, assimilation and colonisation policies, making preparations to add the region Afrin de-facto to Turkey’s state territory.

At the same time thousands of jihadists have been transferred from Goutha to Afrin to create demographic changes and install an Islamic-Turkish order.

The resistance of YPG-YPJ forces in the all districts of Canton Afrin carries on, as well as the resistance of the displaced people from Afrin in Sherawa and Shehba region.

Turkey has extended it threats now towards Til Rifat/Shehba region, Minbij and Shingal. Moreover, the tension between the two blocks Russia-Turkey-Iran and the US lead International Coalition are growing.

War and Humanitarian Situation

The conditions of Afrin’s people displaced in Shehba region are still very precarious and insecure. However, works to build camps and to organised delivery of supplies and humanitarian aid are organised by the Democratic Self-administrations of Northern Syria and the Kurdish Red Crescent. Continue reading “Afrin and Northern Syria: weekly News Update”