Kurds in Beirut protest Turkish military operation in northern Syria

(22 Jan 2018) Hundreds of members of the Kurdish community in Lebanon marched on the streets of Beirut on Monday to protest an ongoing military operation by Turkish troops in Afrin, northern Syria. The protesters gathered outside the Russian embassy and called on Russia to close Syrian airspace for Turkish military warplanes. Protesters chanted against Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan slogans and waved Kurdish flags including some featuring an image of Kurdish Marxist-nationalist leader Abdullah Ocalan. Intense clashes erupted on Monday as Turkish troops and their allies advanced on a Kurdish enclave in Syria, the third day of the Ankara offensive aimed at ousting the US-backed Kurdish militia from the area, the militia and a war monitoring group said. The Turkish offensive on Afrin, codenamed Operation Olive Branch, started on Saturday, heightening tensions in the already complicated Syrian conflict and threatening to further strain ties between NATO allies Turkey and the United States. Turkey says it aims to create a 30-kilometre (20-mile) deep "secure zone" in Afrin, the Kurdish-controlled enclave that straddles its borders. The UN Security Council was to convene later Monday to discuss the situation in Syria. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...