Turkish soldier martyred in NW Syria

By Muhammed Boztepe

ANKARA (AA) - One Turkish soldier was martyred in northwestern Syrian district of Afrin, security sources said Monday.

Turkey’s National Defense Ministry said in a statement that the soldier was martyred during military activities in the area of the Operation Olive Branch, a counter-terror operation launched by Turkey in early 2018.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed or displaced in the conflict, mainly by regime airstrikes targeting opposition-held areas.

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