INFOGRAPHIC - Turkey prioritizes civilian safety unlike US, Russia

By Selen Temizer

ANKARA (AA) - Unlike the U.S. and Russia, Turkey prioritizes the safety of civilian lives in its anti-terror operations in Syria.

Turkey has only targeted terrorist hideouts, weapons and equipment.

The live broadcast by Anadolu Agency of the operation from Syria's Tal Abyad district is added evidence.

Turkey on Oct. 9 launched Operation Peace Spring to eliminate terrorists from northern Syria in order to secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees, and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.

Also, Turkey has conducted two major military operations in northwestern Syria -- Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch -- to purge the region of the terrorist groups Daesh and the YPG, which is the Syrian branch of the terrorist group PKK.

- Operation Olive Branch in Afrin

It was observed that only terrorist positions were struck in Syria’s northwestern district of Afrin during Operation Olive Branch.

Not a single bullet pierced through civilian buildings, especially hospitals and mosques.

International groups such as the UN and Red Cross highlighted this in their reports.

Red Cross was given access by Turkey in Afrin to deliver aid.

In a February 2018 statement, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stressed that, despite Operation Olive Branch, no problems were faced in delivering humanitarian aid in the region.

- Civilians pay the price in Iraq's Mosul

Meanwhile, U.S. operations against Daesh terrorists in Syria and Iraq led to massive destruction.

The U.S. launched airstrikes for nine months to clear Mosul of Daesh.

The operation cleared the city of Daesh but left it in ruins.

Many civilians were found trapped under rubble.

In a statement this March, Iraq's High Commission for Human Rights said that 4,720 bodies were recovered from the rubble.

- US operation in Syria's Raqqa

In October 2017, Raqqa was cleared of Daesh terrorists with U.S. support to YPG/PKK terrorist organization.

Footage received by Anadolu Agency shows most of Raqqa was in ruins after the operation.

The most civilian casualties of Syria were recorded in Raqqa as a result of the U.S. attacks.

According to a March report, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said approximately 2,232 people, including 543 children and 346 women, were killed in Raqqa in U.S. strikes.

Also, Amnesty International called on the U.S., France and the U.K. to admit civilian casualties and the extent of destruction in the city.

As a result of the attacks, 560,000 civilians from Raqqa left their homes.

Approximately 20,000 civilians, who returned to the city center are still suffering from poverty and unemployment.

- Russia's massacre in Aleppo

Russian attacks in Aleppo's east wiped most of the city off the map. Between September and December 2016, Aleppo's east was under siege by Russia's ally Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Russian warplanes targeted civilians directly in Aleppo.

According to SNHR, after three months of attacks, a total of 71 women, 121 children and 442 civilians were killed. Around 45,000 civilians were transferred to opposition-controlled areas in northern Syria.

Since 2016, Turkey’s Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, making it possible for Syrians who fled the violence to return home.

Turkey has long decried the threat from terrorists east of the Euphrates in northern Syria, pledging military action to prevent the formation of a "terrorist corridor" there.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. YPG is the Syrian branch of the terrorist organization PKK.