Erdogan threatens to expand offensive to other northern Syrian cities

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday threatened to expand Turkey’s offensive against the Afrin region in Syria to other cities in the country’s north to remove the presence of the Syrian Kurdish militia that Ankara views as terrorists.

“We will continue our fight until there is no terrorist on our border leading to Iraq,” Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, vowing to “clean up” the city of Manbij, east of Afrin, also held by the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

Turkey launched its military operation dubbed “Olive Branch” against the YPG on Saturday, supporting Syrian rebels with ground troops, air strikes and artillery fire.

While the YPG is still working closely with Washington against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Syria, Ankara views the YPG as a terror group allied to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside Turkey.

The PKK is blacklisted by Ankara and its Western allies as a terror outfit.

The seven-day offensive has seen Washington's NATO ally Ankara attacking a US-allied force, even raising fears of military confrontation between two alliance powers since the US has a military presence in Manbij.