Turkish Border Town Hit by Rockets, Civilian Killed

Date: 31 January 2018 - 21:54

News ID: ۴۹۵۷۱

ISTANBUL (Dispatches) – Two rockets fired from the Syrian region of Afrin struck the Turkish border town of Reyhanli and killed one person, the state-run Anadolu agency said on Wednesday.
Rockets hit two houses and killed one 17-year-old and wounded another person, Anadolu said. The missile attacks were believed to be carried out by members of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Syrian Kurdish fighters, it said.
Since the start of Turkey’s operation against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in Afrin, several rockets have hit the Turkish border towns of Kilis and Reyhanli.
Turkey launched the air and ground offensive, dubbed "Operation Olive Branch”, a little more than a week ago, opening a new front in Syria’s seven-year, multi-sided civil war to target Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli says five Turkish soldiers and 24 allied militants from the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) have lost their lives in the ongoing cross-border offensive in Syria’s northwestern region of Afrin against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Addressing parliament, Canikli denied reports of civilian deaths in the offensive, saying, "No civilian has been harmed in Operation Olive Branch of Turkish Armed Forces and the FSA.”
He added that a total of 649 YPG militants had been killed since the beginning of the operation on January 20.
"Turkish Air Forces destroyed 458 targets, which were being used as shelters and ammunition depots. Within the ground operation, 4,370 targets were hit,” Canikli stated.
Meanwhile, the World Medical Association has called on the Ankara government to release senior members of the registered trade union for doctors in Turkey, who were detained on possible terror charges for condemning Afrin operation.
The France-based association on Tuesday urged Turkish officials to end their "campaign of intimidation” against critics of Operation Olive Branch, hours after prosecutors issued warrants against 11 members of the Turkish Medical Association.
The international body said it "fully supports our Turkish colleagues in their public statements that war is a public health problem.”

This file handout picture, taken and released by Turkey’s Dogan News Agency on January 21, 2018, reportedly shows smoke billowing after rockets hit the Turkish border town of Reyhanli.