President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday during a parliamentary address to his party that the Turkish military will continue its Euphrates Shield operation.
Ankara has continued its military operations against Syria’s armed Kurdish groups that have ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey.
The deployment of the Turkish troops has been criticized by the Syrian government, which has demanded Turkey’s withdrawal from Syria.
Afrin city is a part of the Syrian Kurdish region commonly known as Rojava. Turkey considers the Kurdish YPG controlling Afrin is a terrorist organization linked to the PKK banned in the country. In December, Turkey sent military reinforcements to the region.
Special Monitoring Mission to Syria (SMMS) 