Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies have successfully leveraged their advantages over the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in the city of Afrin. On March 18, they entered Afrin and took the city only hours later. The YPG had begun withdrawing even before the attack was formally launched, acknowledging its inability to effectively defend the city following severe casualties sustained during frontier battles . The YPG's decision spared Afrin from heavy urban fighting, and the damage to the city was minimal — an anomaly for the typically devastating Syrian civil war. But there was still some destruction: Retreating YPG forces started fires and set off improvised explosive devices, while some units of Turkey's Syrian rebel allies engaged in widespread looting. As Stratfor highlighted in a March 14 assessment , the Turkish and allied victory exemplifies Turkey's strength as a military power.