Syrian rebel fighters enter Afrin town

Turkish Armed Forces and Free Syrian Army (FSA) on Sunday took complete control of northwestern Syria’s Afrin, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday (Ömer Alven – Anadolu Ajansı )

Turkish-backed Syrian rebel fighters took control of parts of the town of Afrin on Sunday after Kurdish YPG forces pulled out, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army rebel fighters said.

Mohammad al-Hamadeen said the fighters entered Afrin shortly before dawn, from the north, east and west of the town, and had not encountered any resistance.

“They have taken control of parts of the town,” Hamadeen told Reuters. “They are combing the streets and the houses”.

There was no immediate comment from Turkey, which launched its military offensive against the Kurdish YPG forces in Afrin on January 20, supported by FSA rebel factions.

Ankara says the YPG is an extension of a Kurdish militant group which has been waging an insurgency in southeast Turkey since the 1980s.

More than 150,000 people have been displaced in the last few days from Afrin town, a senior Kurdish official and a monitoring group said on Saturday.

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