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Turkey tightens siege on Afrin

Turkey is closing in on the Kurdish stronghold of Afrin in northern Syria.
A picture taken on June 9, 2017 shows the main entrance to the city of Afrin, along Syria's northern border with Turkey. / AFP PHOTO / George OURFALIAN        (Photo credit should read GEORGE OURFALIAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Afrin, a small piece of Syria abutting Turkey’s Hatay and Kilis provinces, is known for its olives and pomegranates as well as its stubbornly resistant Kurdish population. This land where Kurds have been living for a thousand years is now Turkey’s primary target, but not because it poses a threat to Turkey’s borders. While Atme, Azaz and Jarablus were scenes of violent clashes, Afrin had remained calm.

Today, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and National Intelligence Service are focusing on Afrin because of the local population's strong support for imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party leader Abdullah Ocalan. Afrin had been under occasional artillery harassment by the TSK and its local allies in the Free Syrian Army and is now under pressure from the south. The TSK set up a command center on Sheikh Bereket Hill overlooking Afrin, followed by new bases at Salve, Daret Izza and on Seman Mountain.

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