Turkey-led forces comb Afrin after ousting Kurds
♦ Ankara says its forces won't stay in the city as occupiers
♦ Turkish embassy in Copenhagen hit with Molotov cocktails
Turkish-led forces secured the city of Afrin yesterday after a deadly two-month assault that dealt the Kurds a major blow and could reshape the region.
Opposition groups supporting the capture of Afrin from the Kurds condemned looting carried out by Ankara's Syrian proxies when they seized the northern city Sunday.
The most significant control of territory change in Syria this year coincided with the regime's grinding down of Eastern Ghouta, a six-year-old rebel bastion near Damascus.
President Bashar al-Assad visited reconquered areas there Sunday to hail his troops' advances, which led tens of thousands of civilians to flee to government areas after years of siege.
The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) could do little when Syrian Arab fighters backed by Nato's second-largest army thrust into Afrin, nearly two months into a massive assault on the region.
The fighters, mostly former anti-Assad rebels, celebrated their victory by destroying the statue of Kurdish hero Kawa and looting shops and other property.
The pillaging drew widespread condemnation, including from Syrian opposition groups supporting the Turkish intervention.
"The looting and stealing of private and public property is a crime," said Mohamed Alloush, a key figure in the Jaish al-Islam rebel group.
Turkey yesterday insisted pro-Ankara forces did not plan to remain in Afrin as occupiers after they ousted Kurdish militia from the northern Syrian city.
"We are not staying permanently in Afrin. We are not an occupier at all," Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters.
Meanwhile, at least four people attacked the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen with Molotov cocktails early yesterday, police said, causing minor damage to the facade of the building but no injuries.
The attack took place the day after Turkish-backed Syrian rebels had taken "total control" of the centre of Afrin.
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