February 23, 2018 – Fort Russ News – Paul Antonopoulos
AFRIN, Syria – Thousands of residents in Afrin in Syria’s northwest welcomed pro-Syrian government fighters from the National Defense Forces who had arrived in response to the Turkish military invasion of the region on Thursday.
“Kurds and Arabs are one people, we have protected the Kurdish protection units, and now the Syrian Arab Army also came to protect us, we are all one. The Syrian people are one,” said one of the Kurdish locals.
“We are against [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, and against the Ottoman Turkish aggression, we Syrian people are one people, the land is one, and we are united,” said one of the soldiers.
- Advertisement -
Turkey launched an invasion of Afrin to oust the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) on January 20 in an operation dubbed “Olive Branch”. In over a month of fighting, it has made little gains and the arrival of the National Defense Forces will be a big blow to this aim.