Afrin offensive (January–March 2018)

Afrin offensive (January–March 2018)
	Part of Operation Olive Branch, the Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War, and the Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present)
	; Animated map of the offensive Turkish-backed opposition control SDF control Syrian Army control Joint Syrian Army and SDF controlFor a more detailed, up-to-date, interactive map, see here.
Date	20 January – 24 March 2018; (2 months and 4 days)
Location	Afrin District and Azaz District, northern Aleppo Governorate, Syria
Result	Turkish and TFSA victory Turkish Armed Forces and their allies capture the entire Afrin District (282 towns and villages), including Afrin city.; YPG-held territory in Afrin along the Turkish-Syrian border is captured by the TFSA, linking Azaz and Idlib (previously cut off since February 2016).; Beginning of SDF insurgency in captured territories.;
Belligerents
Republic of Turkey; Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA); Other rebel factions	Democratic Federation of Northern Syria; Syrian Arab Republic (20 Feb. – 21 March); Sinjar Alliance; International Freedom Battalion (IFB); Supported by:; Iran (alleged)
Commanders and leaders
Gen. Hulusi Akar; (Minister of Defence, former Army Chief); Gen. İsmail Metin Temel; (Operations chief commander, until December 2018); Lt. Col. Muhammad Hamadin; (Third Legion and Levant Front commander); Col. Ahmed Othman; (Sultan Murad Division top commander) ; Fehim Isa; (Second Corps and Sultan Murad Division commander); Sayf Balud; (Hamza Division top commander); Abu Muslim; (Levant Front commander); Maj. Yasser Abdul Rahim; (Sham Legion commander, until 7 February); Lt. Wael al-Mousa †; (First Legion commander); Ahmad Fayyadh al-Khalaf †; (Samarkand Brigade field commander)	Bahjt Abedo; (Afrin Region defense minister); Mahmud Berxwedan; (YPG and SDF Afrin commander); Qehreman Cudî †; (YPG and SDF Afrin commander); Tokshin Botan †; (YPJ commander); Zilan Judy †; (YPJ commander); Haji Ahmed; (Army of Revolutionaries commander); Abu Omar al-Idlibi; (Northern Democratic Brigade commander); Viyan İsyan; (MLKP commander); Ibrahim Maktabi; (NDF commander); Mohamed al Faraj; (NDF commander); Muthanna Nasser †; (NDF commander)
Units involved
See order of battle	See order of battle
Strength
6,400 Equipment Unknown number of F-4E 2020 Terminator; Tens of F-16 Fighting Falcon; Unknown number of Leopard 2 A4; Unknown number of M60T Sabra; Unknown number of T-155 Fırtına Howitzers; Unknown number of T-122 Sakarya Rocket Artillery; Unknown number of Kirpi APC; 2 T129 ATAK; ; 10,000–25,000	8,000–10,000 (late January); 20,000 (late February); 800+
Casualties and losses
Per SOHR:; 447 killed; 78 killed Per SDF:; 1,648+ killed Per Turkey:; 302 killed; 51 killed, 228 wounded	Per SOHR:; 1,500 killed; 91 killed Per SDF:; 820 killed; 62 killed Per Turkey:; 3,755 killed or captured
	289–500 civilians killed in Syria; (per SOHR & SDF); 7–9 civilians killed in Turkey (2 Syrians)
	a The TAF announced the start of Operation Olive Branch on 20 January, while the Turkish Defence Minister stated it "de facto started with cross-border shelling" the day before when one additional SDF fighter was killed.; b Denied by Turkey, but confirmed by Turkey's pro-Kurdish HDP.

The Afrin offensive (January–March 2018) was a military operation launched by the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army against the Syrian Democratic Forces in Afrin District in northwestern Syria as the initial phase of Operation Olive Branch. At the end of military operations, the UN had registered 150,000 Kurdish refugees in camps in the area of Tel Rifaat; the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) estimated that 300,000 people had been expelled in total. By May, SOHR estimated that 40,000 settlers had been moved into Afrin, some of them Arabs displaced from eastern Ghouta, but mostly families of the mixed Arab and Syrian Turkmen militias.

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