February 18, 2016•Update: February 19, 2016
KILIS, Turkey
The PYD, the Syrian branch of the terrorist PKK organization, has launched massive attacks on northern Syria’s Azaz district, a Turkmen commander said Thursday.
Zakariyya Karsli, commander in the Jabhat Shamiya group, an umbrella organization of Syrian rebel militias opposed to the Bashar al-Assad regime, told Anadolu Agency that the PYD's latest large-scale assault was just six kilometers (four miles) from the Turkish border.
“The PYD has deployed just two kilometers from Azaz since Tuesday and today they have started to carry out their attack to seize the city,” Karsli said.
Azaz, in Aleppo province, has been the scene of recent heavy fighting.
“They [PYD forces] tried to capture Azaz State Hospital which is the only hospital in the city,” Karsli also said.
On Monday, Russian warplanes targeted two schools, the hospital in Azaz and another hospital in Idlib managed by Geneva-based Doctors Without Borders.
Separately, the Turkish military has been continuing to shell PYD and PKK positions in northern Syria intermittently for six consecutive days in retaliation to artillery fire from PYD forces based around Azaz.
The PYD is the Syrian branch of the terrorist PKK which has targeted Turkish security forces and civilians since 1984.
