Turkey Deploys Poison Gas in Afrin
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Turkish Army launched a chemical attack on a Kurdish-held village in Afrin region in Northwestern Aleppo, Syria’s state news agency reported on Saturday.
SANA quoted well-informed sources as saying that the Turkish army used poisonous gas against the Kurdish-held village of al-Mazinah in Sheikh Hadid region near the town of Afrin.
It added that six villagers are sufferring from severe breathing difficulties after the Turkish army’s chemical attack.
Based on the latest reports two of the chemically wounded civilians are in critical health conditions.
Kurdish militants in Afrin repelled the Ankara-backed forces’ attacks on Thursday and destroyed a Turkish army tank as the Operation Olive Branch continues in the region.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reported that they repulsed a fierce offensive by the Turkish army against Talat Balilkeh in Rajou region, killing a number of Ankara-backed militants and forcing others to withdraw.
The SDF added that they also seized a large number of weapons and military equipment after warding off the Turkish-backed militants’ offensive against the village of Qouda.
They also said that a tank belonging to the Turkish army was also smashed and heavy tolls and damages were inflicted on the Ankara-backed militants during clashes in Bolbol region.
Tillerson’s Visit to Ankara Seen as Green Light to Turkey’s Chemical Attack against Kurds
TEHRAN (FNA)- Turkey-backed militants engaged in Operation Olive Branch in Northwestern Syria launched a chemical attack on the Kurdish population in the village of Aranda in Afrin as Ankara and Washington declared a number of agreements at the end of the US state secretary’s visit to Ankara.
Syrian state media SANA reported that at least six civilians were hospitalized after the attack.
“Six people have been admitted with symptoms of suffocation as a result of the use of projectiles with poisonous gas by the Turkish regime in the town of Aranda,” SANA quoted the hospital’s director, Joan Mohammed, as saying.
Medics are working to determine the type of gas used, Mohammed said.
Local journalist Mohammed Hassan tweeted pictures of patients, who were purported to be victims of the attack, wearing breathing masks.
The hospital director said four of the victims were stable and two were in critical condition.
YPG Spokesman Birusk Hasaka confirmed that Kurds came under what appears to be a chemical attack during Turkey’s offensive on a village, saying that the symptoms of the six people affected are consistent with exposure to a gas poisoning.
The attack was launched by the FSA militants who are backed by Ankara and at the end of Rex Tillerson’s visit to Turkey, raising speculations that the attack was launched after a US green light.
Washington’s silence on the attack that has reinvigorated speculations about its suspicious role in the incident comes as it has repeatedly accused the Syrian army forces of conducting chemical weapons against militants, a claim always rejected by Damascus.
Experts believe the US selective approach is yet another indicator of Washington’s willingness to make an instrumental use of chemical warfare.
Syrian Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Fayssal Mikdad said on Wednesday that Washington is uneasy about the achievements of the Syrian Arab Army and therefore it spreads misleading news claiming that the Syrian forces are using chemical weapons in the Eastern Ghouta, Idlib and other areas.
“We call on the United Nations to investigate into the actions and practices of the United States, which threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Syria and aim at the liquidation of the Syrian people, contradicting the objectives and principles of the UN,” according to a statement read by Mikdad at the Ministry HQ, SANA reported.
“There is still no evidence of the use of chemical weapons by Syria and all the accusations are based on false allegations made by the so-called Syrian Civil Defense Organization (white helmets), which actually appeared through publishing news and videos proved to be false,” Mikdad added.
On the period between January 15 and 17 in 2018, terrorists in Idlib used chemical weapons twice against the advanced Syrian forces, Mikdad said, adding that “our soldiers were attacked by chlorine gas near the town of Hawin to the South of Idlib and the town of Sinjar and that made our soldiers in need for medical treatment.”
Mikdad wondered about the role of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which was designed to control the spread and use of chemical weapons, considering that such an act by the OPCW and the lack of desire of Western countries to take practical measures in response to the use of chemical weapons raise serious questions regarding the direct impact on the activities of international organizations of the United Nations.
He said that OPCW is ineffective when it comes to investigating chemical attacks on the Syrian soil, as the facts collected by it are limited to researches that were published on websites and interviews with witnesses in other countries, while the investigation must be credible and serious and it should be done in the place where the alleged incident occurred.
Kurdish Fighter Claims Turkey Using Napalm, Chlorine in Afrin Operation
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Turkish troops failed to advance in Syria’s Afrin district, where they prefer to use the hit-and-run tactics, according to Reizan Hedu, a representative of the Kurdish self-defense forces in Afrin.
Speaking to RIA Novosti, Reizan Hedu, representative of the Kurdish self-defense forces in Afrin, claimed that the Turkish army is using internationally-banned arms in its military operation in the Syrian region.
“The Turkish army possesses aircraft, tanks and missiles, and is using weapons banned by the international convention, [namely] napalm and shells with chlorine,” Hedu said.
He added that “they have tens of thousands of terrorists, in addition to the Turkish military.”
Hedu also pointed out that the Turkish troops actually do not advance in Afrin, opting to engage in hit-and-run tactics, which he said are typically used by the self-defense forces.
His remarks came as the Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported that at least six people with symptoms of suffocation had been hospitalized in Afrin after the Turkish military used toxic agents in the village of Aranda.
On January 20, the Turkish army launched Operation Olive Branch against Kurdish YPG forces, which Ankara believes have links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), blacklisted by Turkey as a terrorist organization.
Damascus has condemned the operation as “treacherous aggression” and an assault on the country’s sovereignty. Russia, for its part, urges all parties to show restraint and respect Syria’s territorial integrity.
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