On January 14, the Turkish Army deployed more troops and military equipment including tanks, artillery pieces and armored vehicles around the city of Afrin in the Syrian province of Aleppo, according Mete Sohtaoğlu, a journalist of CNN Turkey.
Sohtaoğlu also revealed that Euphrates Shield (ES) forces and several Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups are currently on alert and waiting for the order to launch an offensive against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin.
Meanwhile, the Turkish artillery shelled several positions of the YPG and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) west of Afrin, according to Kurdish sources. The Kurdish Hawar News Agency (ANHA) said that the YPG responded and shelled several potions of the Turkish-backed FSA west of Afrin.
Earlier, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Turkish forces may soon carry out an attack on the city of Afrin in order to “clear” the southern border of Turkey.
Many Turkish observers believe that the Turkish Army will launch a military operation against the YPG in Afrin city in the upcoming days. However, Turkey had threatened the YPG in Afrin on many occasion over the last few months, but didn’t take any action.