Photo taken from southern Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar on Oct. 10, 2019 shows smoke rising from the northern Syrian city of Ras al-Ain during an attack launched by Turkish army. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
The Turkish military campaign against the Kurdish forces in northern Syria has so far displaced 70,000 civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Thursday.
The military campaign, which was launched on Wednesday, also led to the falling of 11 villages into the hands of the Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels, said the Britain-based watchdog group.
It added that 10 civilians have so far been killed.
Meanwhile, the state news agency SANA said the Turkish intensive shelling targeted infrastructure in the countryside of Hasakah province in northeastern Syria as well as the northern countryside of the northern province of Raqqa.
It said water stations, electricity plants, dams, oil fields as well as residential areas were targeted during the shelling.
On Wednesday, Turkey started the military campaign in northern Syria to eliminate the Kurdish forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces and its umbrella of the People's Protection Units, which are both deemed by Ankara as separatists and terrorists.
The Turkish operation came after the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from northern Syria, which was seen as a sign of abandoning the Kurdish forces that used to be Washington's allies in fighting IS in Syria.
In a report on Thursday evening, SANA reported that about 100 U.S. soldiers withdrew from the Kurdish-held areas in northeastern Syria toward Iraq.
