SANLIURFA: Smoke rising from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain, from the Turkish side of the border at Ceylanpinar district in Sanliurfa, in the first week of Turkey's military operation against Syrian Kurdish fighters — AFP CEYLANPINAR, Oct 15 (Agencies): Turkish artillery is pounding suspected Syrian Kurdish positions near a town in northeast Syria as Turkey's military incursion enters its seventh day.
An Associated Press journalist on Tuesday reported heavy bombardment of targets in the countryside of Ras al Ayn, days after Turkey announced that it had captured the border town. Turkish jets also carried out at least one airstrike.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, reported Kurdish fighters had retaken the town.
A Turkish military official denied reports that Turkey had begun an assault on the Kurdish-held town of Manbij, without giving further detail.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended Turkey's offensive in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, calling on the international community to support the initiative or "begin admitting refugees" from Syria.
Meanwhile, the US has imposed sanctions on Turkish ministries and senior government officials in response to the country's military offensive in northern Syria.
President Donald Trump also phoned his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to demand an immediate truce, Vice-President Mike Pence said.
Mr Pence said he would travel to the region "as quickly as possible".
The move comes after criticism of a US troop withdrawal from the region which some say gave Turkey a "green light".
The Turkish offensive, which began last week, aims to push the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the border region. Turkey considers the biggest militia in the SDF a terrorist organisation.
The Turkish government wants to create a "safe zone" in the area, where it can resettle up to two million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey.
Many of them are not Kurds and critics warn this could lead to ethnic cleansing of the local Kurdish population.
Dozens of civilians have been killed in the operation so far and at least 160,000 have fled the area, according to the UN.
US imposes sanctions on Turkish ministries, officials
Mr Pence said he would travel to the region "as quickly as possible".
The move comes after criticism of a US troop withdrawal from the region which some say gave Turkey a "green light".
The Turkish offensive, which began last week, aims to push the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the border region. Turkey considers the biggest militia in the SDF a terrorist organisation.
The Turkish government wants to create a "safe zone" in the area, where it can resettle up to two million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey.
Many of them are not Kurds and critics warn this could lead to ethnic cleansing of the local Kurdish population.
Dozens of civilians have been killed in the operation so far and at least 160,000 have fled the area, according to the UN.
Russia said on Tuesday it would not allow clashes between Turkey and Syria as Ankara presses a military operation against Kurdish forces.
"This would simply be unacceptable," Moscow's special envoy on Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. "And therefore we will not allow it, of course."
The UN warned Tuesday that reported summary executions of civilians in northeastern Syria carried out by pro-Turkish fighters could amount to a "war crime" and that Ankara could be "deemed responsible".
The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces said over the weekend that at least nine civilians were "executed" as part of Turkey's incursion into northeastern Syria, which began nearly a week ago.
Among them was 35-year-old Hevrin Khalaf, the secretary-general of the Future Syria Party, who according to the forces was taken out of her car and killed by Turkish-allied Syrian fighters.
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