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Units of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), supported by the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF), have captured the border village of Hammam and two nearby hills from Kurdish YPG/YPJ forces in the Syrian area of Afrin, the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported on January 23.
Meanwhile, clases continued for the strategic Birsaya Mount east of Afrin. The both sides claim that they control the area.
According to reports, at least 2 Turkish soldiers had been killed in clashes between YPG/YPJ and the TAF since the start of the operation in Afrin.
The TAF launched a military operation dubbed Operation Olive Branch against Kurdish militias in Syria’s Afrin on January 20. Since then, the TAF and the FSA have been pressuring Kurdish forces on multiple fronts. According to the Turkish authorities, the goal of the operation is to establish security along the Turkish-Syrian border as well as to build a 30km-deep buffer zone in Afrin.
Seems that the report on capture of the mountain was, to say the least, premature.
As for Hamman, we will see what the real situation is. Turkish media are only allowed to report “a patriottic” view.
It can take weeks or months but i am sure the Turks will occupy Efrin. Because mad dog Erdocunt cant afford to lose, his Nato army is to strong and he doesnt care less about the losses, mainly his FSA scum puppets. And the US wont help their ‘allie’ YPG. But on the long run he wil lose because he cant occupy Syrian soil forever. Same time Kurds have to realise their future is Damascus not Washington
Stated like that, you might be right. It also depends on how much the Turkish population can take. If they ever hear of the real story of course.
Most of the Turkish critics are in jail the rest will be beaten up on the streets
i bet turkish army is hidding its looses…we will learn in a few days…only 2 dead turks sounds so fake…unless they keep retreating the moment they see 1 kurd in the area
Majority of the land forces are from Free Syrian Army. Turkey is using Claret Red Berets(Bordo Bereliler) or Commando(Komando) forces to;
1.Support the Free Syrian Army in fire, tactics etc.
2.Infiltrate important hills/mountains
3.Mark the targets that are to be striked by jets and/or howitzers
4.Spot tunnels, trench systems and warn the other teams
Thus, Turkey’s loses make sense.
If you are following FSA’s certain twitter accounts; they have loses around 50~. The real loses are gonna be from FSA, just like it did during the Euphrates Shield operation.
well in al bab they lost 10 leopard tanks and 10 other tanks in one day…they were using FSA again but tat dint help them much
Kurdish propaganda vs turkish propaganda.
At the end you have to decide what makes sense or not. 10 tank losses in a day? That really is hard to believe dont you?
High losses is true but that’s because they used obsolete panzer blitz doctrine.
with german supplied anti tank weapons “Panzerfaus III” or US supplied TOW I think we will continue to see high losses in Turkish mechanized forces. The Daanish also supplied some CarlGusta recoilless HEAT-pipes AKA “Panzerfaust 84” that will punch a lot of holes in APCs and such…and with the amount of explosives captured from ISIS/ Daesh, the SDF and YPG can shoot half the turkish deployment back to Ankara…
Unless if it’s Hesbollah.. as they had proven it to the world..! where the israhell disgracefully have to retreats. And also due to the damaged done on their armies, civilians & the huge squatters in the land of Palestine..
Peace
Israel suffered so heavily because they went too deep too fast. Without securing the area behind they just drove like idiots and i really enjoied those arogant pigs being blown apart.
Unless turkey doesnt conduct the same stratigy like the jews in lebanon it
Will be hard to have a similar picture
Yes they went fast after being caught and Israel asked the US for help after realizing in the short time. which said go fish. There was only 85,000 reserve and their main army tied up heavy losses on the armor, with 3,000 Hezbollah of Nasir Brigade and 4200 missiles.
That’s true.. and it’s due to their idiotic generals..! They don’t have any plan or strategies.. just like what the Yankees are doing currently.. the only useless plans they had was A, B, C, D, E, F, G and still going on since obomba time.. lol..!
Peace
well we all saw the images…also in the 6 days war aigypt lost 100 tanks in a day remember?
So you mean that war has the same character like the olive one?
R u serious? Those are totaly different kind of war. Traditional regular military war and an guerilla style urban war are different.
Nah he is right what Israel did was similar to guerilla war and not an actual one, as Israel forgot to declare war on a military exercise,lol. Nation full of cowardly acts and cowardly people, Bibi reminds me of the other terrorist leaders of Israel , just fact.
Shouldn’t even mention it as a war as Israel was the only one breaching the peace and murdering US naval personal observing the peace.
Look at Al Bab. TSK lost over 40 tanks and armoured cars there in just two or three days.
With basic Leopard 2m4 very possible and highly likely, they aren’t the best in today’s fights , there are no reactive armor or up armored spot on it.They are very vulnerable to heavy weapons fire , so no advancing with them.
Very true indeed.. I didn’t took that into consideration.. tq
They wouldn’t use that kind of invasion again. Tanks would be to defend checkpoint with Air Force , light mechanized infantry, artillery Triple for offensive. In fact the war fought in Syria mainly of artillery vs artillery with Air Force in between.
Which is why up armored vbied are quite effective since lead offensive were of light infantry.
artillery fire and airstrikes is the early acts of a war campaign eventually they will ahve to use the tanks and infantry (boots on the ground) if they wish yo take and occupy a town
You are correct in that the real lossess will be TFSA.
Nevertheless, SDF reports Turkish lossess much higher and I tend to believe SDF more than the patriotic Turkish government reporting.
What Skagos is saying makes perfect sense when you look at Russian losses in the palmyra front, I think that turkey has learned well from its former attacks same as the SAA have! Armoured units will only be used as the “cou de gra” in future operations, however I think infantry losses will be heavily downplayed by all sides given to the nature of propergander!
The nature of “proper gander” is to discern propaganda! Which gives us the coupe de grace in fighting fake news!
I am not paying too much attention to the losses count. I am trying to figure out what the Turks are doing on the field. It is not a sports game, where rules and boundaries fashion the event.
Going by what I see as ever changing and increasing points of penetration, my guess is the TAF is herding the YPG/SDF into the areas they want them to occupy. The Syrians are not dictating tempo or clash areas, the TAF is now and has done it from the start of this operation. So the YPG is being jerked around the playing field, under continuos bombardment. While this is going on, they are being forced to concentrate their resources in Afrin, in the locations chosen by the Turks. My two cents is, despite a look and feel that the YPG is holding it’s own, the battlefield picture as a whole it is not going well for them.
Further, the screaming from the YPG/SDF for the US Coalition and Russia to weigh in and stop this, speaks volumes as to how bad their situation is now. Even a few weeks of this, will leave them depleted and in need of resupply from the US. That could open up a box the US has no desire to entertain. My take on it. I wish well to all.
it’s clear the turks have learned from the SAA and the Russian tactics. Not focussed on taking ground keeping it no mater what, but wearing the enemy down and brake it’s back with air superiority. Tactical retreating from hill Bisraya mount and not falling in the trap is a clear sign that the Kurds are in serous trouble.
Or the FSA trash just like to retreat (Al Bab) :D
Sure seems like to me that Turks hoped the YPG would just drop their guns like their hipster cousins in Iraq. Looks like they were wrong.
Given the turkish order to all turkish media to only report in a patriottic way, I rather believe pro sdf media.
See this report by Anha :
A certain defeat of Turkish army in Afrin, killing 30 elements
23.01.2018 20:52 News
AFRIN – The Media Center of Syrian Democratic Forces stressed killing at least 30 members of the Turkish occupation army and his mercenaries during clashes today in Afrin.
The media center of the Syrian Democratic Forces revealed the outcome of the clashes that took place today between their forces and the forces of the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries, during an official statement.
The text of the statement:
– Turkish occupation forces attacked hill of the Qustal Jendu village in Shara district, and Syria’s Democratic Forces attacked and forced the Turkish army forces to withdraw, as clashes continue in the region.
– The clashes continue in Hammam village Jundrissa area.
– Turkish occupation forces launched a massive offensive in the village of Amra in the area of Mobata, and the fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces attacked, forcing Turkish mercenaries to withdraw. The clashes in the village of Amra resulted in the killing of 24 members of the Turkish army and its mercenaries, while clashes continue in the vicinity of the village.
– The Syrian Democratic Forces Forces carried out a special military operation against the Turkish army and its mercenaries in the village of Kordu in Rajo district. The operation resulted in the destruction of a military vehicle and the killing of six Turkish soldiers.
Anha has reported that late this afternoon, early evening SDF forces have cleared both Hamman and the hills from TFSA mercenaries.
At thre moment one can see a kobane like scenario developing. During the day TFSA attacks havee a temporary superiority in numbers, heavy weapons and airattacks and they gain a little. Late afternoon and evening till night, SDF retakes most or all in counterattacks, inflicting heavy lossess on TFSA.
SDF imo concentrates on TFSA in order to break their morale and there are already signs their morale is indeed fracturing.
FSA = ISIS