Back عملية غصن الزيتون Arabic Zeytun budağı əməliyyatı Azerbaijani زئیتون بوداغی عملیاتی AZB Аперацыя «Аліўкавая галіна» Byelorussian আফরিনে তুর্কি সামরিক অভিযান Bengali/Bangla Argadenn a-enep Afrin Breton Operació Branca d'Olivera Catalan ھێرشی سەربازیی تورکیا بۆ سەر عەفرین CKB Turecká invaze do Afrínu Czech Türkische Militäroffensive auf Afrin German

Operation Olive Branch

Operation Olive Branch
Part of the Rojava conflict, Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War, and the Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present)

  Turkish-backed opposition control
  SDF control
  Syrian Army control
For a more detailed, up-to-date, interactive map, see here.
DateMain combat phase:
20 January[a] – 24 March 2018[9]
(2 months and 4 days)
Main insurgency phase:[10][11][12]
25 March 2018 – 9 August 2019
(1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks and 1 day)
Location
Afrin and Azaz districts, Aleppo Governorate, Syria
Result Turkish-SNA victory
Territorial
changes
Belligerents
 Turkey
Syrian National Army (SNA)[1]
Other rebel factions[2]

Democratic Federation of Northern Syria
Syria (20 Feb. – 21 March)[3][4]
Sinjar Alliance[5]
International Freedom Battalion (IFB)[6]
TKP/ML

Commanders and leaders

Turkey Gen. Hulusi Akar
(Minister of Defence, Army Chief until July 2018)
Turkey Gen. İsmail Metin Temel[19]
(Operations chief commander, until December 2018)
Lt. Col. Muhammad Hamadin[20]
(Third Legion and Levant Front commander)

Syrian opposition Col. Ahmed Othman[21]
(Sultan Murad Division top commander)
Syrian opposition Fehim Isa[22]
(Second Corps and Sultan Murad Division commander)
Syrian opposition Sayf Balud[23]
(Hamza Division top commander)
Abu Muslim[24]
(Levant Front commander)
Maj. Yasser Abdul Rahim[24]
(Sham Legion commander, until 7 February[25])
Lt. Wael al-Mousa †[26]
(First Legion commander)
Ahmad Fayyadh al-Khalaf †[27]
(Samarkand Brigade field commander)

Bahjt Abedo[28]
(Afrin Region defense minister)[29]
Mahmud Berxwedan[30]
(YPG and SDF Afrin commander)

Qehreman Cudî †[31]
(YPG and SDF Afrin commander)
Tokshin Botan †[32]
(YPJ commander)
Zilan Judy †[32]
(YPJ commander)
Haji Ahmed[33]
(Army of Revolutionaries commander)
Abu Omar al-Idlibi[34]
(Northern Democratic Brigade commander)
Viyan İsyan[35]
(MLKP commander)
Ibrahim Maktabi
(NDF commander)[36]
Mohamed al Faraj
(NDF commander)[37]
Muthanna Nasser †[38]
(NDF commander)
Units involved
See order of battle See order of battle
Strength

Turkey 6,400[39]

Equipment
10,000–25,000[48][49]		 8,000–10,000 (late January)[50]
20,000 (late February)[51]
800+[52]
Casualties and losses

Per SOHR:
616 killed[53]
Turkey 96 killed[54]

Per SDF:
Turkey 2,772 killed[55]

Per Turkey:
318 killed (as of 27 March)[56]

Turkey 61 soldiers and 1 civilian worker killed, 243 soldiers wounded[57][58][59]

Per SOHR:[53]
1,586 killed (as of March 2019)
91 killed

Per SDF:
600–876 killed[60][55]
62 killed[61]

Per Turkey:

4,612 killed or captured[62]

389–500 civilians killed in Syria
(per SOHR & SDF)[b][53][60]
7–9 civilians killed in Turkey[63][64] (2 Syrians)[65]

150,000–300,000 civilians internally displaced[66][67][68]
a The TAF announced the start of Operation Olive Branch on 20 January,[69] while the Turkish Defence Minister stated it "de facto started with cross-border shelling" the day before[70] when one additional SDF fighter was killed.[71]

Operation Olive Branch (Turkish: Zeytin Dalı Harekâtı) was a cross-border military operation conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces and Syrian National Army (SNA) in the majority-Kurdish Afrin District of northwest Syria, against the People's Protection Units (YPG) of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The air war and use of major artillery ended as the Arab and Turkmen militias of the SNA entered the city of Afrin on 18 March 2018, and the SDF insurgency in Northern Aleppo began.

Between 395 and 510 civilians were reported killed in the operation.[53][60][64] Other reported war crimes include the mutilation of a female corpse by SNA fighters,[72] the killing of civilians due to indiscriminate shelling by Turkish forces,[73] the alleged use of chemical gas by the Turkish Army,[74][75] and the indiscriminate shooting of refugees fleeing from the conflict area into Turkey by the Gendarmerie General Command.[76]

In Turkey, the government issued restrictions on press coverage, with Reporters Without Borders noting that the Turkish media was expected to be in "service of the government and its war goals".[77] Hundreds of people were arrested for demonstrating against the operation,[78] and over 800 social media users and nearly 100 politicians and journalists were arrested for criticizing it.[79][77][80] Turkish police also arrested numerous leaders and high-ranking members of pro-Kurdish and left-wing political parties.[81] The use of the term 'olive branch' (a traditional symbol of peace) in the operation's name has been criticised as Orwellian and a "mockery".[82]

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that a total of 300,000 Kurdish people have been displaced.[83] In the aftermath of the conflict, Turkish forces implemented a resettlement policy by moving refugees from Eastern Ghouta into the newly-empty homes.[84] Many houses, farms, and other private property belonging to those that fled the conflict have been seized or looted by the SNA.[85] In a study of 24 key informants from Afrin, all reported loss of housing, land or property following Operation Olive Branch.[86] Although Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that the operation in Afrin would be followed by a push to the town of Manbij,[87] which the US-backed SDF captured from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2016, Turkish forces stopped a few kilometres short of the town.[50][88][89]

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  83. ^ Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (20 September 2018). "After displacing more than 300000 Kurdish residents of Afrin people, Turkish-backed factions seize more than 75% of olive farms and receive the price of the first season in advance".
  84. ^ "Yazidis who suffered under Isis face forced conversion to Islam amid fresh persecution in Afrin". Independent. 18 April 2018. Other displaced people from Eastern Ghouta are being moved into houses from which their Kurdish inhabitants have fled and are not being allowed to return according to SOHR. It says that refugees from Eastern Ghouta object to what is happening, saying they do not want to settle in Afrin, "where the Turkish forces provide them with houses owned by people displaced from Afrin". The Eastern Ghouta refugees say they resent being the instrument of "an organised demographic change" at the behest of Turkey which would, in effect, replace Kurds with Arabs in Afrin.
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