Afrin, Syria

Afrin Efrîn عفرين
City
Afrin, 2009
Afrin
Coordinates: 36°30′30″N 36°52′9″E / 36.50833°N 36.86917°E / 36.50833; 36.86917
Country	Syria
Governorate	Aleppo
District	Afrin
Subdistrict	Afrin
Control	Turkey Syrian National Army[1]
Area
• Total	3,850 km2 (1,490 sq mi)
Elevation	270 m (890 ft)
Population  (2020 census)[2]
• Total	70.000
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Afrin (Arabic: عفرين, romanized: Ifrīn; Kurdish: ئەفرین, romanized: Efrîn) is a Kurdish majority city in northern Syria.^[3][4] In the Afrin District, it is part of the Aleppo Governorate. The total population of the district as of 2020^[update] was recorded at 172,095 people, of whom 70,000 lived in the town of Afrin itself.

The town and district are named after the Afrin River. The city is split into two distinct halves by the river. As a result of Operation Olive Branch, the People's Defense Units of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria ("Rojava" or "AANES") withdrew after the city's encirclement from Afrin on 17 March 2018 and the Syrian National Army and Turkish Armed Forces captured Afrin the next day, bringing it under the Turkish occupation of northern Syria.^[5]

While thousands fled as the Syrian Democratic Forces of the AANES retreated, an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 people remained in Afrin city after the Turkish capture.^[6]