Speaking at the 46^th Mukhtars meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, "I wish Afrin will have completely fallen by the evening," by noting that the number of PKK/PYD members killed in the operation has risen to 3,444.

Emphasizing that utmost care and sensitivity are being shown to prevent civilian casualties, Erdoğan said, "Civilians are leading out through a special corridor, despite hindering by YPG militants aiming to use them as human shields to prevent Turkish air and artillery strikes. My Mehmet [Turkish soldiers] is martyred with a handmade bomb when he lifts the Qur'an from the ground. Mehmet shows all kinds of sensitivity. 3,444 terrorists have been neutralized. We are a bit closer to Afrin. I wish that Afrin will have fallen by the evening. Of course, our job is not easy. We do not kill civilians like the West do. They killed hundreds of thousands in Rwanda, in Libya. They should answer for those they killed in Iraq. If Turkiye had targeted civilians, we would have taken Afrin long time ago."

Operation signal to Qandil

Erdoğan continued his words: "65 percent of the weapons we use in Afrin are indigenous. This will be even greater. These bad neighbors have made us proprietary and knowledgeable." Noting that they will clean Manbij, and the Euphrates' east to the northern Iraqi border, Erdoğan lastly said that they will clear northern Iraq from terrorists." (ILKHA)