A new batch of popular forces arrived in Syria's Afrin region on Wednesday to help Kurdish YPG militants repel a Turkish AKP government's offensive there, Syrian state news agency SANA said
"New groups of popular forces arriving in Afrin to support the people in confronting ... the continued aggression of the Turkish regime," it said.
SANA’s reporter in Afrin said that the Turkish forces targeted with artillery the locations of the popular forces upon their arrival in the area of Afrin, in addition to targeting media delegations that are covering the arrival of the forces.
However, a convoy of several dozen vehicles of Syrian pro-government militias attempted to enter Afrin region, but retreated back to Aleppo following Turkish shelling, İbrahim Kalın, the spokesman of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday.
"There have been reports that YPG and the [Syrian President Bashar] Assad regime reached an agreement. We approached the reports with caution. Yesterday, we have witnessed an attempt of 40-50 vehicles coming from Aleppo to enter Afrin. [The attempt] was foiled with the help of artillery," Kalın said.
Ankara warned of grave consequences on Wednesday after forces entered Afrin. YPG said Turkish planes bombed a town in Afrin on Wednesday, as Ankara pressed its month-long assault.
