Ex-Syrian General Lauds Turkey For Protecting Civilians

A former Syrian army general has praised the Turkish military for protecting lives of civilians during its operation in Syria's Afrin region. Ex-Brig. Gen. Asad Nasif told Anadolu Agency on Monday

HATAY, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Mar, 2018 ) :A former Syrian army general has praised the Turkish military for protecting lives of civilians during its operation in Syria's Afrin region.

Ex-Brig. Gen. Asad Nasif told Anadolu Agency on Monday Turkish army could have entered the center of Afrin in 24 hours at most, if it wanted to and if it hadn't cared about civilians. "The most important priority of Turkish Armed Forces is to protect civilians." Nasif said Turkey had launched its anti-terror operation at the right time since the YPG/PKK terrorists were accelerating their terror activities, both in Turkey and Syria, and were also oppressing the residents of Afrin.

He said the mountainous region of Afrin was full of mines and booby traps.

He added the most important element during the operation was to not harm civilians. "Despite this, the operation was carried out in a faster and successful way, [and achieved more] than we expected.

"It was known that 400,000-500,000 civilians were living in Afrin. "This operation didn't start with the aim of war. It was made only for sake of humanity," he said. Apart from showing utmost attention to not harming civilians in the operation, injured civilians were given treatment while given food and clothing was also distributed in liberated areas.

Additionally, residents of the area were protected from YPG/PKK terror attacks. Turkey on January 20 launched Operation Olive Branch to remove YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin.