Syrian government must defend Tel Rifaat: Afrin Council
ALEPPO NORTHERN COUNTRYSIDE, Syria (North Press) – It is the duty of the Syrian government forces to defend Tel Rifaat town, an official in the Afrin Council said on Saturday.
“Tel Rifaat is part of Syria, and it is the duty of Syrian government forces and the Russian guarantor to defend it,” Zaloukh Bakr, co-chair of the Afrin Council, told North Press.
“The government should not be lag in carrying its duty, so that the scenario of the Turkish invasion of the city of Afrin not repeated. The government forces will receive popular support from Afrin’s displaced and residents of the northern countryside of Aleppo,” she stressed.
The Turkish military operation, alongside the affiliated armed factions on the city of Afrin, north Syria in 2018, caused the displacement of 300,000 of its residents towards the areas of the northern countryside of Aleppo, according to the statistics of the Human Rights Organization-Afrin.
Bakr considered the Turkish incursion into Syria as an “occupation.”
She stated that “the Syrian areas that fall under Turkey’s control are occupied areas, where Turkey commits violations and seeks demographic change in the region.”
Following the withdrawal of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in March, 2018, the town of Tel Rifaat has been controlled by the government forces and Russian forces, where both forces have military points deployed in the town and on its outskirts.
Bakr warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if Turkey implemented its threats, noting that “the UN and human rights organizations have taken no actions.”
On Saturday afternoon, thousands of Afrin displaced people demonstrated in the town of Tel Rifaat, denouncing Turkish threats against the town.
Turkey threats to invade the town amid ongoing shelling on the town by Turkish forces with the support of Syrian factions affiliated with them.
Days ago, Turkish drones dropped leaflets warning civilians to stay away from military sites threatening to invade the area.