In Syria, yesterday, the Turkish offensive against Afrin's Kurdish militia began. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the operation aims to create a "security zone" with a depth of 30 km from the Syrian Turkish border.
At present, 32 would be the airborne jet fighters in Ankara who have reportedly destroyed 45 targets including shelters and weapon depots.
According to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, since the beginning of the operation, at least 18 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the clashes between the Kurdish and Syrian militias supported by Turkey. Ankara, on the other hand, claims that it has only targeted those it defines as "terrorists" and has accused the YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units) of "propaganda".
According to reports from the Turkish news agency Anadolu, the Turkish authorities today issued 35 arrest warrants, which concern 18 people in Istanbul and 17 people in Diyarbakir. These people are accused of doing "terrorist propaganda" on social networks against the Ankara offensive in Syria and, in favor of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), linked to the Syrian Democratic Unity Party (PYD), considered organizations terrorists from Ankara.
Concurrently, the Istanbul prosecutor has opened an investigation against 57 people suspected of "hate speech" and insults to President Erdogan on Twitter, in relation to the ongoing operation in Afrin. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced that anyone who had demonstrated against the offensive in Syria would pay "a very high price".
According to the Turkish broadcaster "TRT", the attorney general of the province of Van, in the south east of the country, has opened an investigation against four deputies of the main pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, the HDP, who had protested the offensive currently underway in Syria.
France, inviting Ankara to end its offensive, requested and received a UN Security Council emergency meeting, scheduled for today, behind closed doors.