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Erdogan: Afrin Operation Nearing its Conclusion

Turkish forces are seen on Mount Barsaya in northeast of Afrin, Syria January 28, 2018. (Reuters)
Turkish forces are seen on Mount Barsaya in northeast of Afrin, Syria January 28, 2018. (Reuters)
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Erdogan: Afrin Operation Nearing its Conclusion

Turkish forces are seen on Mount Barsaya in northeast of Afrin, Syria January 28, 2018. (Reuters)
Turkish forces are seen on Mount Barsaya in northeast of Afrin, Syria January 28, 2018. (Reuters)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Saturday that his forces were close to concluding Operation Olive Branch in Syria’s Afrin region.

He said: “The army has started to control the mountains and it is advancing on Afrin. It has little way to go.”

Later on Saturday, Ankara announced that eight soldiers were killed in the operation against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

A military statement said that one soldier was killed during clashes with the YPG, Syrian Democratic Forces and Islamic State in northern Syria, while the second was killed during shelling on the border region of Kilis in southern Turkey,

Turkey has continued to reinforce its positions on its border with Syria.

The military also dropped leaflets over Afrin, calling on the locals to unite against “terrorist” organizations, adding that the region will remain in the hands of its original residents.

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Lebanon Calls for Negotiations Following US Strikes on Iran

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun
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Lebanon Calls for Negotiations Following US Strikes on Iran

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun

Following American strikes on Iran that fueled fears of a wider conflict, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Sunday that the US bombing could lead to a regional conflict that no country could bear and called for negotiations.

“Lebanon, its leadership, parties, and people, are aware today, more than ever before, that it has paid a heavy price for the wars that erupted on its land and in the region,” Aoun said in a statement on X. “It is unwilling to pay more”, he added.

Iran and Israel traded air and missile strikes as the world braced on Monday for Tehran's response to the US attack on its nuclear sites and US President Donald Trump raised the idea of regime change in Iran. Iran vowed to defend itself on Sunday, a day after the US joined Israel in the biggest Western military action against the country since its 1979 Iranian Revolution, despite calls for restraint and a return to diplomacy from around the world.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has long been considered Iran’s first line of defense in case of a war with Israel. But since Israel launched its massive barrage against Iran, triggering the ongoing Israel-Iran war, the Lebanese group has stayed out of the fray — even after the US entered the conflict Sunday with strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

Lebanese government officials have pressed the group to stay out of the conflict, saying that Lebanon cannot handle another damaging war, and US envoy Tom Barrack, who visited Lebanon last week, said it would be a “very bad decision” for Hezbollah to get involved.