Kurdish militants vow to make Afrin a ‘nightmare’ for Turkey
Ankara’s army and Syrian rebels celebrated taking over the once peaceful town, where armed Kurdish fighters say they are lying in wait and poised to strike
Kurdish militants have vowed to wage a guerilla war against the Turkish military and their Syrian rebel proxies after the latter swept into the northern Syrian city of Afrin, seizing control from Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish militia, the YPG, withdrew from Afrin before dawn on Sunday, members blending in with an exodus of up to 150,000 civilians who had been fleeing the city since Friday.
The Turks and their predominantly Arab allies moved quickly into the centre of Afrin and then its surrounds after more than seven weeks of clashes, which are thought to have claimed up to 250 civilian lives.
The rapid fall of Afrin – less than 48 hours after it was surrounded by the advancing Turks and Syrian rebels – belied expectations of a long, gruelling blockade, like the ongoing siege of eastern Ghouta by the Syrian military and its allies.
The withdrawing Kurdish forces framed their exit as a move to prevent more civilian suffering.
YPG officials among the exodus said some of the group’s members had remained in Afrin to mount guerilla attacks against the Turks and their allies. “We wish to announce that our war against the Turkish occupation and the … forces known as the Free [Syrian] Army has entered a new phase, moving from a war of direct confrontation to hit-and-run tactics, to avoid larger numbers of civilian deaths and to hurt the enemy ... Our forces everywhere in Afrin will be an ongoing nightmare for them.”
