Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army members pull down Kurdish statue in the center of Afrin, Syria March 18, 2018. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
ISTANBUL/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies swept into the northwestern Syrian town of Afrin on Sunday, raising their flags in the town centre and declaring full control after an eight-week campaign to drive out Kurdish YPG forces.
A spokesman for the rebel fighters said they entered Afrin before dawn, meeting no resistance. A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said pockets of YPG fighters defied orders to withdraw, but Turkish forces were in control.
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