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World

The Latest: Turkey may expand operation against Syrian Kurds

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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BEIRUT – The Latest on the situation in Syria (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

Turkish presidential spokesman says Turkey will not tolerate the presence of a Syrian Kurdish militia "anywhere" along its southern border, hinting that Ankara might expand its military operation underway in the Syrian enclave of Afrin eastward.

The spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said on Saturday that Turkey's first demand is to see the Syrian Kurdish militia — the People's Protection Units or YPG — move east of the Euphrates River and leave the town of Manbij, where American troops backing the Syrian Kurdish fighters are stationed.

Turkey launched an incursion into Syria on Jan. 20 and is currently fighting the YPG in the northwestern enclave of Afrin. It considers the YPG a "terrorist group" and an extension of Kurdish rebels inside Turkey.

Kalin called on the United States to "disengage" from the YPG and said Turkey will continue communications with "our American allies to avoid any confrontation."

Turkey shares a 911-kilometer border with Syria. The YPG controls much of the territory along the border and an uninterrupted strip from Manbij to the Iraqi border.

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2:20 p.m.

A Syrian monitoring group and the media arm of al-Qaida-linked militants are reporting intense airstrikes on a rebel-held stronghold in Syria's northwest.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported more than 35 airstrikes on Saraqeb since late Friday, adding that many of its residents are fleeing.

The Ibaa News Agency of the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee, said Russian and Syrian warplanes and helicopter gunships have been pounding Saraqeb and Tel Mardeekh village in Idlib province since the early hours of Saturday.

Syrian government forces and their allies pushed into Idlib, an opposition stronghold, inching closer to a key highway that connects Syria's two largest cities, Damascus and Aleppo.

The U.N. says more than 270,000 have been displaced in Idlib because of the government onslaught since Dec. 15.