Last month, the Turkish-backed groups renamed streets and public places in Afrin, replacing Kurdish names and cultural references with their own slogans.
Now, the Newroz monument in a roundabout has been plastered with flags of the Syrian opposition and Turkey.
This was done by militants from Jabha al-Shamiya, according to sources within the city.
A file photo of the same monument. Photo: Anadolu Agency
Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies ousted the YPG and YPJ from the Kurdish enclave of Afrin earlier this year in what it described as a counter-terror operation. Ankara accused the Kurdish forces of having ties to the PKK and launching cross-border assaults into Turkey. The YPG and YPJ deny the charges.
It is now difficult to access Afrin, but multiple sources report the security situation has deteriorated.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights recently described life in Afrin as “daily scenes filled with persecution, arrest, looting, and robbery, without moving a muscle by the authorities responsible for the creation of all of this.”
Human Rights Watch has also documented the looting and destruction of Kurds in Afrin by militias backed by Turkey.
Syrian militias pulled down a statue of the mythical Kurdish figure Kawa the Blacksmith when they took the city in March. The act angered Kurds around the world who said it was evidence that Turkey’s main goal in its military offensive was to fight the Kurdish nation, not terrorism.
Kurds made up 95 percent of Afrin's population before Turkey’s operation. Many Kurdish families have fled the area and families displaced from elsewhere in Syria are sheltering in the villages and cities.
The YPG continues its guerrilla-style attacks on Syrian militias in Afrin with frequent attacks. The force’s press office announced they had killed seven “terrorists and Turkish troops” in several operations in the enclave last week.
Turkey’s armed forces claims to have “neutralized” 4,573 “terrorists” since the start of the operation on Afrin. The army uses the term “neutralized” to refer to those killed, wounded, or otherwise removed from the battlefield.
The army says religious and cultural sites and public facilities have not been targeted by their forces.
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