Turkish army, FSA liberate another village in NW Syria

By Esref Musa and Selen Temizer

IDLIB/ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Armed Forces and Free Syrian Army (FSA) on Monday liberated one more village from YPG/PKK-Daesh terrorists as part of the Operation Olive Branch in Syria’s northwestern Afrin region.

The village of Karmanluk in the Shaykh al-Hadid town, located northwest of Afrin, has been cleared of the terrorists, Anadolu Agency’s correspondents in the field reported.

Thus, the military forces are about seven kilometers (4.3 miles) away from cutting terrorists' link with the Turkish border.

Since the launch of the operation on Jan. 20, Turkish military and the FSA liberated 113 locations including one center of a district, 85 villages, 20 strategic mountains and hills and one YPG/PKK base.

Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to remove YPG/PKK-Daesh terrorists from Afrin.

According to Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkish borders and the region as well as to protect the Syrian people from the oppression and cruelty of terrorists.

The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council’s decisions, self-defense rights under the UN charter and respect for Syria's territorial integrity, it said.

The military has also said that only terrorist targets are being destroyed and "utmost importance" is being given to not harm any civilians.

Afrin has been a major hideout for the YPG/PKK since July 2012 when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without putting up a fight.