Heavy fighting as Syria Kurds hold off Turkish assault

Qamishli: Fighting raged in northeastern  Syria  on Friday as Turkish forces and their proxies tried to seize key Kurdish-held towns on the third day of a long-threatened offensive.
The Syrian Democratic Forces — the autonomous Kurds’ de facto army — scrambled to repulse multiple ground attacks along a roughly 120 kilometre (75 mile) long segment of the border.
“There is heavy fighting between the SDF and the Turks on different fronts, mostly from Tal Abyad to Ras al-Ain,” the  Syria  Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based war monitor said the Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies — mostly Sunni Arab former rebels — were using air strikes, heavy artillery and rocket fire.
“The SDF are using tunnels, trenches and berms” in their defence operations, the Observatory said.
Kurdish counter-attacks overnight led to the retaking of two of the 11 villages they had lost since the start of the Turkish-led assault on Wednesday.