February 16, 2018•Update: February 16, 2018
By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON
A British member of the PYD/PKK terrorist group admitted they are “doomed” by the strength of Turkish army in Syria’s northwestern region Afrin.
Speaking to the British daily The Times, Huang Lei -- a British-Chinese -- said he survived two weeks of bombing by Turkey; however, his squad of foreign terrorists fighting alongside the PYD/PKK terror organization had almost no hope for a final victory.
Huang Lei said they were “doomed due to the overwhelming strength of the Turkish army”.
“I really doubt that we can hold off the Turkish troops,” he told The Times.
“They have tanks, they have APCs [armored personnel carriers]. They have jets, they have satellites. They are a big country; a war machine. In time, slowly, they will definitely win one day.”
Born in China, Huang Lei, 24, came to the U.K. when he was a teenager. He recently appeared on terrorist organization PYD/PKK’s propaganda videos alongside with other foreign members of the group.
The Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think tank, suggested in a report in August 2017 the terrorist group should be proscribed in the U.K., after profiling 60 foreigners who joined the organization from 12 different countries.
“The Forgotten Foreign Fighters: The PKK in Syria” laid bare the ties between the PKK -- which is listed as a terrorist organization in the EU and the U.S. as well as Turkey -- and the PYD/PKK in Syria.
Operation Olive Branch
It urged the U.K. government to distance itself from the PYD/PKK as it could potentially cause a crisis with Turkey, which is a fellow NATO member.
It recommended the U.K. government “consider updating the Foreign Enlistment Act to prevent Britons from joining non-state actors engaged in conflict abroad”.
A total of 1,551 PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists have been "neutralized" since the beginning of Operation Olive Branch in Syria's northwestern Afrin region on Jan. 20, the Turkish military said in a statement on Friday.
According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey's borders and the region as well as protect Syrians from terrorist cruelty and oppression.
The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN charter, and respect for Syria's territorial integrity, it said.
The military has also said that only terrorist targets are being destroyed and "utmost care" is being taken to avoid harming any civilians.
Afrin has been a major hideout for the PYD/PKK since July 2012, when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without a fight.
