<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war" id="mwAUE" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Syrian civil war">Syrian civil war</a>: The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Turkey" id="mwAUI" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Government of Turkey">Government of Turkey</a> announces the initiation of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrin_offensive_(January–March_2018)" id="mwAUM" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Afrin offensive (January–March 2018)">Afrin offensive</a> and begins shelling <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Democratic_Forces" id="mwAUQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Syrian Democratic Forces">Syrian Democratic Forces</a> (SDF) positions in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrin_Region" id="mwAUU" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Afrin Region">Afrin Region</a>.<sup about="#mwt95" class="mw-ref reference" data-mw='{"name":"ref","attrs":{},"body":{"id":"mw-reference-text-cite_note-17"}}' id="cite_ref-17" rel="dc:references" typeof="mw:Extension/ref"><a href="./January_20#cite_note-17" id="mwAUY" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 17;"><span class="mw-reflink-text" id="mwAUc">[17]</span></a></sup>
<span class="mw-reference-text" id="mw-reference-text-cite_note-17"><cite about="#mwt92" class="citation news cs1" id="mwB5E"><a class="external text" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey/turkey-shells-syrias-afrin-region-minister-says-operation-has-begun-idUSKBN1F80XX" id="mwB5I" rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow">"Turkey shells Syria's Afrin region, minister says operation has begun"</a>. <i id="mwB5M"><a href="./Reuters" id="mwB5Q" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Reuters">Reuters</a></i>. 20 September 2018<span class="reference-accessdate" id="mwB5U">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" id="mwB5Y">8 December</span> 2019</span>.</cite><span about="#mwt92" class="Z3988" id="mwB5c" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.genre=article&amp;rft.jtitle=Reuters&amp;rft.atitle=Turkey+shells+Syria%27s+Afrin+region%2C+minister+says+operation+has+begun&amp;rft.date=2018-09-20&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2Fus-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey%2Fturkey-shells-syrias-afrin-region-minister-says-operation-has-begun-idUSKBN1F80XX&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AJanuary+20"></span></span>