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Kurds ousted from Afrin

Turkey-led forces take the northern Syrian city 'unopposed'

AFP, Afrin
**8Kurdish forces vow to fight until Afrin is 'liberated'
Rebels in eastern Ghouta discussing ceasefire with UN**
Turkey's flag was flying in Afrin yesterday after its troops and Ankara-backed rebels chased out Kurdish militia forces to seize control of the Syrian city.
In a major victory for Ankara's twomonth operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, Turkish-led forces pushed into Afrin apparently unopposed, taking up positions across the city.
The advance came as Syria's civil war entered its eighth year this week with heavy fighting on two fronts -around Afrin and in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.
Hundreds have been killed and thousands forced from their homes by the ferocious assault in Ghouta, where President Bashar al-Assad yesterday visited troops battling to retake the last rebel enclave close to the capital.
In Afrin, AFP correspondents saw Turkish forces and their Syrian allies in all neighbourhoods of the city after they made a lightning advance inside yesterday.
The flags of Turkey and Syrian rebel groups were raised in the city and a statue of Kurdish hero Kawa, a symbol of resis-
tance against oppressors, was tom down.
Civilians were seen fleeing the city and plumes of smoke rose into the sky as mines exploded.
Around 250,000 civilians had left the city in recent days. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, says more than 280 civilians have been killed since the campaign began on January 20.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
announced that Turkish-backed fighters had taken control of the city centre and said a "large number" of Kurdish fighters had "fled with their tails between their legs".
The Turkish leader has said the operation could move on to other Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria.
Residents said it appeared that YPG units had withdrawn from the city without a fight. But Kurdish authori-
ties vowed to retake Afrin, one of three semi-autonomous Kurdish "cantons" in northern Syria.
On another front near Damascus, thousands of civilians continued to stream out of Eastern Ghouta for a fourth day as the regime's Russian-backed air and ground assault appeared to have eased up.
Regime fighters have retaken more than 80 percent of the former rebel bastion since the offensive was launched on February 18, the Observatory says, slicing what remains into three pockets each held by different rebel groups.
The main rebel group in Ghouta yesterday said it was negotiating with a United Nations delegation about a ceasefire, aid and the evacuation of urgent medical cases.
More than 1,400 civilians have been killed in the offensive and at least 65,000 civilians are reported to have fled the area in recent days.
Syria's conflict broke out in 2011 with protests against Assad.
He has maintained his grip on power despite global calls to step down and outrage at the brutal offensives he has waged to retake towns and cities from rebel fighters.