Turkey paves way for offensive with artillery bombardment

ISTANBUL, Jan 20 (KUNA) -- Turkish gunners bombarded strongholds of separatist Kurds in northern Syria on Saturday, paving way for a wide-scale offensive against the bases.
Official Anadolu news agency said the artillerymen, stationed along the borders with neighboring Syria, fired sporadic artillery volleys targeting bases of the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) in and around the town of Afrin in northern Syria.
The Turkish military issued a statement saying that the regular forces retaliated for fire from the Kurdish positions in Afrin, north of the main Syrian city Aleppo.
Anadolu also reported that the army is dispatching armored reinforcements to the border regions with Syria, in apparent preparations for the planned ground attacks.
The action coincided with a statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan affirming that that the armed forces had already launched "the Afrin operation" against the separatist Kurds. (pickup previous) ta.rk