DAMASCUS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish forces and allied Syrian insurgents are fighting to capture the last area that would complete the Turkish control over 50 km of the borderline between Turkey and Syria's Kurdish-controlled Afrin enclave, a monitor group reported on Monday.
The Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels are opting to capture the Arab Weiran area in northern Afrin, as this progress would enable the Turkish forces to connect border areas it captured in northern and northeastern parts of Afrin, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
It added that when the area falls to the Turkish forces, 50 km of the borderline between Afrin and Turkey will be secured by Turkey.
The Observatory, which says it relies on a network of activists on ground, said the Turkish side has intensified shelling and airstrikes to precede the arrival of the Syrian forces, which were said to will enter Afrin to aid the Kurdish-led fighters within hours.
Earlier in the day, Syria's state-run SANA news agency said pro-government Syrian forces will enter the Kurdish-controlled Afrin enclave in northern Syria to help in defending that region from the one-month long Turkish military campaign.
The "popular forces," a term used to describe pro-government forces, will enter Afrin within the next hours "to support the steadfastness of its people" in the face of the Turkish attack, said the report.
The declaration is the first official comment on the recent hustle and bustle about an agreement reached between the Syrian army and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) about the entry of the Syrian army to Afrin.
Still, the details of the deal haven't been made clear yet, as with SANA's declaration, pro-government forces will enter Afrin, not the official Syrian army.
The YPG has been controlling Afrin for nearly six years, but tension with Turkey over the growing influence of the Kurds has pushed Ankara to launch a wide-scale offensive along with Turkey-backed Syrian insurgents against Afrin.
The Kurds in Afrin have called on the government to intervene to protect Afrin as it's a Syrian territory after all.
A day earlier, Kurdish news outlets said the YPG agreed with the Syrian army for the entry of the gov't forces to border areas between Afrin and Turkey, not to the city center.
Syria's Kurds, who make up 10 percent of the country's population, have been calling and working to establish an autonomous region in northern Syria.
