The Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) launched a major ground operation against Kurdish armed groups in the northern Syrian enclave of Afrin, Anadolu news agency reported.
FSA troops reportedly started moving towards Afrin in the early hours on Sunday, backed by the Turkish forces, the report said.
The Syrian Kurdish YPG also confirmed the report, saying two villages in Afrin’s Bilbil district near the Turkish border were targeted.
As early as Friday, thousands of FSA fighters have already been mobilised in Turkey’s Hatay province and Syrian locations east of Afrin.
The development comes as Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced on Saturday that Turkish ground troops were likely to join in the operation in Afrin by Sunday.
Yildirim said that “depending on developments, our ground units will perform the necessary activities” on Sunday as part of the Operation Olive Branch, which began on Saturday.
The first phase of the operation conducted by Turkish air forces destroyed “nearly all” targets, he told reporters on Saturday. At least 72 jets were reportedly involved in the operation.
Al Jazeera reported that so far, the operation has killed at least six civilians, as well as two female and one male Kurdish rebel fighters. At least 13 other people were injured.
Turkey’s military said it targeted at least 153 “shelters, hideouts and ammunition depots” of the Kurdish armed groups as well as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS) in seven areas.
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