FSA members moved to Turkey’s southern province under extensive security precautions ahead of expected Afrin operation
19 January 2018•Update: 20 January 2018
By Izzet Mazi
KILIS, Turkey
Members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) have been deployed on Turkey-Syria border on Friday, ahead of Turkish military’s expected operation in Syria’s northern region of Afrin, local sources said.
The FSA -- served in Bab and Cobanbey towns of Syria’s northeastern Aleppo province as a part of Operation Euphrates Shield -- have been referred to Hatay border in southern Turkey.
The sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media, told Anadolu Agency, around 20 buses carrying the FSA members moved from the southern Kilis province to Hatay under extensive security precautions.
Turkey is now widely expected to launch a major military operation in Afrin along the lines of last year’s Operation Euphrates Shield, in which the Turkey-backed FSA successfully cleared large part of northern Syria of terrorist elements.
In 2011, Syria's Assad regime handed Afrin over to the PYD/PKK and there are now between 8,000 and 10,000 terrorists in the area, according to information obtained by Anadolu Agency.
The PYD/PKK is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU, and waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, killing nearly 40,000 people.
More than 1,200 security personnel have been martyred since July 2015 alone when the group resumed its armed campaign against the Turkish state following a fragile cease-fire.
