The Turkish dictator was fortunately blocked from attacking Manbij, which was a senseless idea, due only to anti-Kurdish racism, since it is already liberated from ISIS. Now in a fit of rage he has stepped up attacks on the isolated Kurdish canton of Afrin, northwest of Aleppo. But this too may backfire on him, the Russians have just set up a training school with the local Kurds in the area, and also, with the ISIS retreat, the SDF might in theory be allowed by Assad to send reinforcements through to defend Afrin .

”Turkey’s military forces on Wednesday launched an offensive on the Kurdish district of Afrin in Syria’s northwestern Aleppo Governorate, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, eyewitnesses and officials told ARA News.

The Turkish Army initiated the offensive by shelling the villages of Malla Khalil and Der Ballout in the Jinderis area of Afrin. Several houses were destroyed and dozens of civilians were killed or injured during the attack.

Also on Wednesday, Turkey’s military forces hit with heavy artillery the Kurdish villages of Ferferk and Qere Baba in the Rajou area in Afrin District.

Furthermore, the villages of Anqala and Khalil in the Kurdish Shiya area were also exposed to artillery shelling by the Turkish troops.

“The barbaric Turkish attacks on the Kurdish villages of Afrin caused dozens of casualties among civilians, many of them were women and children,” a local human rights activist told ARA News.

“The death toll is in increase as many of the injured are in critical condition,” the source said.

A member of the Afrin Rescue Team confirmed to ARA News that many victims remained stranded under the rubble.

“The Erdogan-led thugs [Turkish forces] launched simultaneous attacks on all these villages in Afrin, with the ultimate goal of killing as many Kurds as possible. The world should witness this and take action to prevent more massacres by the Turkish dictator,” a Kurdish activist said.

In the meantime, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) vowed to respond to the Turkish offensive.

“We strongly condemn this massacre against the Kurdish people in Afrin, and we will respond by force,” the YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said in a statement on Wednesday”.

Reporting by: Hozan Mamo | Source: ARA News