(MENAFN) On Saturday, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Turkey-backed militias had surrounded Afrin city center in northwestern Syria and were ready to enter at any moment, Anadolu Agency reported.
"We are about to enter Afrin, and we may announce the good news at any time," said Erdogan at his Justice and Development (AK) Party's 6th Annual Congress in southeastern province of Mardin.
He added that a total of 3,569 terrorists have been "neutralized" in Afrin since the start of Operation Olive Branch.
Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.
In January 2018, Turkey launched an offensive called "Olive Branch" on Syria's Afrin Kurds-majority, on the pretext of protecting its boarders from the People's Protection Units (YPG) which Ankara views as "terrorists."
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