Turkey shells targets in Syria

Turkish-led forces began an assault in Syria’s north-west on Saturday.

Syrian civil war map, showing control by city.

It launched airstrikes on 20 January and Turkish ground troops followed a day later.

The Kurds are reported to be readying reinforcements to join the battle from their bases in northeast Syria, where they have thousands of troops who until recently were fighting Islamic State.

Turkey’s military operation, dubbed “Olive Branch”, has put the entire region on the brink of another crisis and outraged most of the Middle East.

HDP Izmir Province Head Cerkez Aydemir, HDP Nusaybin District Head Ferhat Kut and pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Congress Co-chair Leyla Guven are also among the detainees.

Ankara has expressed impatience with Western concern over the operation, arguing that the YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has waged a bloody three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. It describes both groups as terrorist organisations.

Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, has been upset with the USA collaboration with the YPG since it began, with Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım warning in May that it would “surely have consequences and will yield a negative result for the U.S.as well”.

Why is Turkey launching a military operation now? The YPG counters it has recaptured two of them amid reports of heavy fighting.

Mattis said Turkish military officials informed the U.S.by phone of the strikes, but the defense secretary did not indicate whether USA officials cautioned Turkey against the attack.

The announcement enraged Turkey. The military effectiveness of the border security force will be questionable.

“For now Afrin is the target but in the future we might also start an operation in Manbij and also in the eastern part of the Euphrates”, he said.

What’s been the global reaction to the move? Russian authorities have not confirmed this.

The operation was initially presented as a exclusively Turkish offensive, with the Syrian government condemning the aggression and threatening to shoot down Turkish warplanes. Local estimates say there are 800,000 people living in Afrin.

Is this conflict likely to last long?

US President Donald Trump is due to speak to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Wednesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged Turkey to “exercise restraint” and avoid killing or injuring civilians. On Sunday, Syrian President Bashar al Assad called the attacks a “brutal aggression” and lamented Turkey’s support for “terrorists” in Syria.