On January 20, at least 4 civilians were killed and 8 others were injured in an IED attack on a civilian bus in the center of the Syrian city of Afrin, which is controlled by the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF). The attack took place in the anniversary of Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch, which started on January 20, 2019 and led to the capture of the Afrin region by the TAF and its proxies.
Pro-Turkish sources accuse the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) of carrying out the attack. Since the fall of Afrin to the hands of the TAF, cells linked to the YPG have carried out multiple attacks on Turkey-affilated targets in the region. If the Turkish accusations are true, the January 20 incident was the first YPG attack on a civilian target in Afrin. In turn, pro-Kurdish soruces claim that the attack was carried out by ISIS or was just a false flag staged by Turkey and its peoxies.