Russian offensive in Syria leaves at least 11 pro-Turkish militiamen dead

At least 11 Pro-Turkish fighters were killed on Sunday in an airstrike allegedly carried out by Russian aircraft against a school used as a barracks by Pro-Turkish militiamen in the Afrin area of northwestern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

According to the NGO, which is based in the UK but has a network of partners on the ground, 13 others were wounded, some of whom are in critical condition, while most of the dead are from Eastern Guta and other rural areas near the Syrian capital.

The bombing by Russia, Damascus' main ally, targeted a school that the Turkey-linked al-Hamza division used as its headquarters and barracks in the village of Barad, near Afrin in northwestern Aleppo province.

The NGO said rescue teams are working to find those who were buried under the rubble after the airstrike, adding that "the death toll could rise".

The Syrian town of Afrin is controlled by Turkish forces and their allied factions fighting Kurdish militias, who had to ally with the government army in the face of the Turkish advance and now the three sides control different but neighbouring parts of the northern regions of Syria. 

Today's attack, according to the Observatory, comes as part of "a Russian escalation" against the "Operation Olive Branch" area.

This operation, launched in January 2018, brought under Turkish military control the Afrin canton, bordering Turkey, which was until then under the control of Kurdish militias affiliated with the YPG, the Kurdish movement that continues to dominate northeastern Syria and which Ankara equates with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Turkey's Kurdish guerrilla group.