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Agence France-Presse

Turkey said Tuesday its army and allied rebels have surrounded the Kurdish city of Afrin in northern Syria, raising the prospect of another devastating siege in the country’s long conflict.
Syria’s war enters its eighth year this week with clashes raging on several fronts, including Afrin and the besieged rebel pockets of Eastern Ghouta, which saw their first medical evacuations of civilians on Tuesday.
While attention in recent weeks has focused on a ferocious regime assault on Ghouta, Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels have steadily advanced against the northern Kurdish enclave of Afrin.
In a statement Tuesday, the Turkish military said it had completely encircled Afrin city, home to some 350,000 people and defended by a well-armed Syrian Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units (YPG).


Birusk Hasakeh, a YPG spokesman inside Afrin, denied the city had been totally besieged but said the last route leading out of it was being shelled heavily.
“If they do encircle the city, we will be ready for a long fight. We will resist,” he said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish forces were within firing range of that route, which leads to a pair of regime-held towns – essentially encircling Afrin and 90 villages to its west.
The United Nations said Turkey’s advance over the last 48 hours had “exacerbated” the humanitarian situation, with water and shelter in short supply.
“In Afrin town and surrounding communities, the people’s situation is concerning,” said the UN’s humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) on Tuesday.
Sealing off Afrin city would be a major success for Turkey’s “Olive Branch” operation, launched on January 20 and aimed at ousting the YPG, a vital partner for a US-backed coalition against the Islamic State group, but seen by Ankara as “terrorists”.
The assault has worried world powers, who fear it could detract from the fight against IS and was indiscriminately hurting civilians.
“If Turkey’s concerns over the border are legitimate … this absolutely does not justify the action by Turkish troops deep inside the Afrin area,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.
It remains unclear what Turkey’s next move will be, but it may lay siege to Afrin while allowing civilians out to avoid a high-casualty offensive.
Abu Jaafar, a commander in the pro-Ankara forces waging Operation Olive Branch, said rebels were considering an “exit route” for civilians.
“We will allow civilians … to leave so they will not be hurt in case (Kurdish) fighters hold out in the villages, neighbourhoods, or buildings inside Afrin,” he said.
Hundreds of civilians were seen fleeing Afrin on Monday, with cars piled high with personal belongings heading to regime-held areas further east.
Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have meanwhile been pressing an assault against Eastern Ghouta, the last major rebel stronghold near Damascus.
Since February 18, Russian-backed regime forces have recaptured more than 60 per cent of Ghouta, whittling down rebel territory to three isolated pockets.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution last month calling for a 30-day truce to allow for aid deliveries and medical evacuations, but the ceasefire demand went unheeded.
Nearly 1,200 civilians have been killed since the Ghouta assault was launched.
On Tuesday, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore voiced concern for some 125,000 children trapped in Ghouta.
“Is it not tantamount to a monstrous indifference to the suffering of children that Security Council resolutions for ceasefires are flouted?” Gilmore asked.
More than 350,000 people have died since Syria’s conflict broke out in 2011. With Russia’s help, Assad has retaken most of the territory he had lost in the early years of the uprising.


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Syrian conflict

Civilians flee as Turkey says its troops have surrounded Kurdish city in Syria, raising prospect of siege

Syrian civilians flee Afrin after Turkey said its army and allied rebels surrounded the Kurdish city in northern Syria on Tuesday. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Syrian civilians fleeing Afrin after Turkey said its army and allied rebels surrounded the Kurdish city in northern Syria, pass through the village of Anab northwest of the city, on March 13, 2018. Hundreds of civilians have been fleeing Syria's Kurdish-majority city of Afrin this week, as Turkey-led rebels have advanced to the outskirts of Afrin city since launching an assault on the wider Kurdish enclave of the same name on January 20. / AFP PHOTO / Nazeer al-Khatib

epa06601092 Internally displaced people from various areas under YPG control, arrive to the recently captured by the Free Syrian Army village of Qestel Cindo, Afrin, 13 March 2018. The Turkish army on 20 January 2018 launched 'Operation Olive Branch' in Syria's northern regions against the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which control the city of Afrin. Turkey classifies the YPG as a terrorist organization. The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army is an armed rebel military group that operates in northern Syria and is supported by the Turkish army. EPA-EFE/AREF TAMMAWI

Syrian Kurds take part in a protest in the northeastern city of Qamishli, against the Turkish assault on the Syrian border enclave of Afrin, on March 11, 2018. A day earlier Ankara-backed rebels advanced against Kurdish militia in northwest Syria, coming to within two kilometres (just over one mile) of the flashpoint town of Afrin, the Syrian Observatory said. / AFP PHOTO / Delil souleiman

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