...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...'s offensive entered its ninth day.
"It is the first real advance of the
Massively outgunned by the
It called for "urgent intervention to open a safe humanitarian corridor to evacuate dead and maimed civilians trapped in Ras al-Ain".
Ankara's Syrian proxies -- mostly Arab and Turkmen former rebels they use as a ground force -- hit a hospital in the town on Thursday, trapping patients and staff inside, the Observatory said.
The monitor said the extent of damage in the facility was not yet clear.
The attack came as violent festivities raged inside the town, according to the Observatory and Syrian rebel fighters.
"The battles are at their most intense," said Abu Imran al-Homsi, a rebel commander fighting alongside Ankara's forces.
"We have surrounded (Ras al-Ain) from all sides and cut off supply lines," another rebel commander told AFP.
Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman said that Ankara's forces had taken about half of the town by Thursday morning.
"There have been intensive air strikes on Ras al-Ain over the past three days," he said.
Kurdish-led SDF forces quickly lost a long stretch of border when Turkey launched its assault on October 9.
They organised a defence of Ras al-Ain, however, with a network of tunnels, berms and trenches that held off
An AFP correspondent on the