Syrian Kurds say Turkish shelling, strikes kill 20 in Afrin
BEIRUT (AP) - Turkish shelling and airstrikes on the northern Syrian Kurdish town of Afrin killed at least 20 civilians on Friday, Kurdish officials said, as the Turkish military urged residents of the town to leave and the Syrian Kurdish militiamen to surrender to besieging Turkish forces.
The media office for the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed force that operates in the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Syria, said that along with 20 killed, at least 30 were wounded in the attacks.
Victims lay dead the streets in pools of blood, according to a video from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria's seven-year civil war and which put the death toll at 18.
Since their January offensive began, Turkish forces have nearly encircled Afrin in an effort to drive the Syrian Kurdish fighters from the town and the surrounding region. Residents say they are facing bread, water, and electricity shortages.
Hundreds of civilians were seen leaving the town to neighboring villages on Thursday looking for relief. Tens of thousands of civilians are believed to still be inside.
Earlier Friday, Turkish aircraft dropped flyers in Arabic and Kurdish on Afrin, asking residents to stay away from "terrorist positions" - a reference to the Syrian Kurdish fighters - and to not let themselves be used as "human shields."
The leaflets claimed that civilians desiring to flee Afrin would be guaranteed safety by the Turkish military and urged Syrian Kurdish fighters to "trust the hand we extend to you."
"Come surrender! A calm and peaceful future awaits you in Afrin," the leaflets read.
Along with civilians fleeing Afrin, a massive exodus is also underway from the besieged eastern suburbs of Damascus, where civilians are leaving the enclave known as eastern Ghouta in the face of the onslaught by the Syrian government forces, backed by their Russian allies.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that the Russian military and the Syrian government would extend a cease-fire in Damascus' rebel-held suburbs as long as it takes to allow all the civilians to leave the area.
Lavrov spoke in Kazakhstan, saying the cease-fire will be extended "until all (civilians) leave" eastern Ghouta. The Russian Defense Ministry said that 2,000 people had exited the rebel-held suburbs by early morning.
Thursday saw the largest single-day exodus of civilians in Syria's civil war. Tens of thousands emerged from Hamouria and other opposition towns to escape the onslaught.
The civilians were fleeing as Syrian government troops, backed by Russian aircraft, pushed further into eastern Ghouta, chipping away at one of the largest and most significant opposition bastions since the early days of the rebellion - communities where some 400,000 people are estimated to be holed up.
Since mid-February, Syrian troops have targeted Damascus' sprawling eastern Ghouta with shells, airstrikes and, at times, even toxic gas, according to opposition medics. They are now in control of the majority of the enclave that had been in rebel hands since 2012.
Over the weekend, Syrian troops divided the enclave into three sectors, isolating the major urban centers and enabling a swift advance.
On Thursday, men, women and children emerged from Hamouria and nearby opposition towns in eastern Ghouta, carrying mats and other possessions that sometimes poked out of suitcases.
An elderly man pushed a bicycle piled with belongings. A shepherd brought his herd of sheep and cattle with him through the corridor set up by government forces.
"What other choice do people have?" said a doctor from Hamouria, who left a week earlier for another rebel-held town after his clinic and home were totally destroyed. "It is either death or exiting," said the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect his identity and ensure the safety of his family.
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Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.