The Turkish General Staff officially declared on Saturday the launch of an operation targeting the positions of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.
Earlier in the day, Turkish jets reportedly struck a PYD observation post in Syria's northern district of Afrin after country's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that the operation had been de facto launched. The Free Syrian Army armed militant group has also launched an offensive on Kurdish positions in the area.
The warplanes attacked Afrin shortly before sunset. A Kurdish official confirmed the strikes saying they were the first by the Turkish military on the city, in what it has named operation "Olive Branch."
Turkey had in recent days sent dozens of military vehicles to the border area in preparation for the operation against the YPG which Turkey deems to be a terror organisation. Turkey says the YPG is an extension of an outlawed Kurdish armed group that it is fighting inside its own borders.
