Zeynep AzizRockets fired from the Afrin region of northern Syria struck the Turkish border city of Kilis on 24 January 2018, killing two people and wounding eleven, according to local authorities.
One projectile hit a mosque during prayers. The dead were reported to be a Turkish citizen and a Syrian national. Kilis and the nearby town of Reyhanlı had already experienced a series of cross-border strikes after Turkey began Operation Olive Branch four days earlier.
The attacks demonstrated how quickly the Afrin campaign was affecting civilian communities on both sides of the frontier. Turkey presented the rocket fire as evidence of the threat posed by the YPG and used it to reinforce public support for extending military operations. Kurdish sources, meanwhile, reported civilian harm from Turkish air and artillery attacks inside Afrin.
The violence also sharpened international concern about escalation. The United States urged Turkey to limit the scope and duration of its campaign, while Ankara signalled that it might move beyond Afrin toward Manbij. With American personnel present near YPG-linked forces farther east, the prospect of a wider operation risked direct friction between allied states.
