One of the latest issue of the current international agenda is of course the Turkish military intervention to Afrin. The territory had been hosted quite a lot of terrorist mobilitiy untill the Turkish operation which has the code name of Olive Branch.
According to the Turkish authorities, the operation is continuing with the cooperation of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Kurdish Democratic Union Party in Syria (PYD), People's Protection Units (YPG) and ISIL. Unlike some of the general beliefs towards conquering the region, the main reason of the operation is stopping the terrorist attacks across the other side of the border and cleaning the territory from these terrorist activities. During the operation, not to harm any civilian is one of the main policies.
The latest situation update is 447 terrorist have been disabled, over 108 targets have been hit and also there are losses in the Turkish side and SDF. It is still going on the 8th day.
Most of the weapons and ammos that the Turkish Military Forces has been using are their domestic production such as Atak combat helicopter, Fırtına self-propelled howitzer, CIRIT Laser Guided Missile and so on.
Most of the political environments have been supporting this operation from the begining in Turkey and the public opinion is in the same direction. Furthermore the syrian and kurdish people of the Afrin region, SDF and the immigrants whose are war weary, are all supporting the operation and some of the immigrants are considering to return after the territory has cleaned.
Russian authorities have declered that Russia is not going to be part of the operation and withdrawing some of the military elements from the region, they clearly revealed that they are not against the Turkish Military operation. The upcoming elections are of course playing a significant role on this Russian policy regarding the operation. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mariya Zaharova has declared that the new strategy that the US following in Syria is aimed at the separation of the Syria and described the Turkish move as "a new and perilous challenge".
On the US side, they have most concern about the situation. They want Turkey to make it short as possible. It is interesting that the weapons has confiscated by the Turkish forces has mostly the US origins. Also some of propaganda elements are indicating that some of the terrorists have the US and European origins. This makes the US-Turkey relations very interesting and fragile because US's double play on the region is stretching the ropes as an ally.
European community is also concerned. German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel has requested a debate within the structure of NATO for the operation and he declared their concerns. The British media believes that the tension between the Turkey and US is only going stand Russia in good stead.
The Turkish Government says that the operation is not going to end until the terrorist elements have cleaned. We are going to see how the course leads the situation.
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