The primarily Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units in Syria (YPG) reported artillery attacks “by Turkish troops and gangs under their command targeted Mirenar, Fîlat, Qetma, Qestelcindo villages in Shera and Cilber and Îska villages in Sherawa region of Efrin.”
The YPG announced a 40-year-old woman had been killed, along with two 13 year olds on Tuesday. Additionally four people were said to be hospitalized.
Monday, YPG announced the deaths of three people and seven others injured in the Shehba region on the outskirts of Afrin.
Turkey's private Dogan news agency said Turkish artillery units responded after the border region came under fire from the Kurdish-controlled Parsa Mountain area near the Turkish border town of Kilis.
The US-led international coalition has supported the YPG in the fight against ISIS. Russia has also backed the Kurds, at times acting as a buffer between them and Turkish forces.
A large scale Turkish-FSA operation in the works had been reported yesterday, and Turkey deployed further troops to its nearby border last week.
"At the first stage, we plan to take control the city of Tall Rifaat, as well as the local airbase, and then we plan to begin with the siege of Afrin, which is under the control of Kurdish YPG forces. Our goal is not to enter the territory of Afrin, but rather to clear the territories located near the Turkish border from YPG," a Syrian opposition commander speaking on the condition on anonymity was reported by the Russian Sputnik News as saying.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) have reported cross-border daily clashes between the YPG and the Turkish military in the area, with both sides accusing one another for first initiating the fight.
Turkey considers the YPG as an extension of the outlawed PKK group which has waged an armed struggle against the Turkish state since 1980s. YPG denies it has any organic links with the PKK, a named terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and EU.
