Turkish troops deployed in Syria as part of Operation Olive Branch are openly geotagging their locations on Instagram, leaving their tracks easily traceable and potentially putting sensitive military information at risk.
An investigation by RT Digital found that Turkish soldiers in the northern Syria region of Afrin are sharing geotagged videos and images on Instagram as units move through the border cities of Kilis to the north and Reyhanli to the south of Turkey.
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The locations range from Afrin or Azaz in Syria to border areas such as Reyhanli and Kilis.
Posts, verified by RT Digital, reveal soldiers dressed in fatigues, recording tanks on the move and the launch of missiles and artillery.
Turkey launched ‘Operation Olive Branch’ against Kurdish forces in Afrin more than a week ago. The publicly available information makes it easy for anyone to track the military incursion.
Afrin, a remote area in northern Syria, was a very popular geotag for Instagram posts shared by Turkish troops. Instagram posts geotagged to Afrin spiked on January 21, according to RT Digital’s analysis.
A local journalist based in Afrin told RT Digital that Turkish forces were continuously bombing the outskirts of the city, targeting civilians. “None of the targets bombed are actually military,” he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted on Sunday that the campaign against Kurdish militia could be widened beyond Afrin to “wherever there are terrorists.” According to Erdogan, Turkish-led forces have killed almost 400 Kurdish militiamen since the start of Operation Olive Branch on January 20.
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