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Turkish forces capture centre of key Syrian border town

The continued push by Turkey into Syria comes days after US President Donald Trump cleared the way for Turkey’s air and ground offensive.

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Turkey’s military said it captured a key Syrian border town under heavy bombardment Saturday in its most significant gain, as its offensive against Kurdish fighters pressed into its fourth day with little sign of relenting despite mounting international criticism.

Turkish troops entered central Ras al-Ayn, according to Turkey’s defence Ministry and a war monitor group.

The ministry tweeted: “Ras al-Ayn’s residential centre has been taken under control through the successful operations in the east of Euphrates” river. It marked the biggest gain made by Turkey since the invasion began Wednesday.

The continued push by Turkey into Syria comes days after US President Donald Trump cleared the way for Turkey’s air and ground offensive, pulling back US forces from the area and saying he wanted to stop getting involved with “endless wars”.

Mr Trump’s decision drew swift bipartisan criticism that he was endangering regional stability and risking the lives of Syrian Kurdish allies who brought down the Islamic State group in Syria.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces were the main US ally in the fight against IS and lost 11,000 fighters in the nearly five-year battle against the extremists.

Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition fighters have made gains recently capturing several northern villages in fighting and bombardment that left dozens of people killed or wounded.

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Smoke rises from the town of Tel Abyad (Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)

During a meeting Saturday in Cairo, the 22-member Arab League condemned what it described as “Turkey’s aggression against Syria” and warned that Ankara will be responsible for the spread of terrorism following its invasion.

The league said Arab states might take some measures against Ankara.

It called on the UN Security Council to intervene and force Turkey to stop its military operations.

The Turkish offensive was widely criticised by Damascus and some Western countries who called on Turkey to cease its military operations.

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Relatives of Halil Yagmur, 64, who was killed Friday during mortar shelling from Syria, mourn over his grave at the cemetery in the town of Suruc, south-eastern Turkey (Emrah Gurel/AP)

During the capture of Ras al-Ayn’s residential centre, an Associated Press journalist across the border in Turkey heard sporadic clashes as Turkish howitzers struck the town and Turkish jets screeched overhead.

Syrian Kurdish forces appeared to be holding out in some areas of the town.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, also called the SDF, released two videos said to be from inside Ras al-Ayn, showing fighters saying that it was Saturday and they were still there.

The fighting was continuing as the Kurdish fighters sought to reverse the Turkish advance into Ras al-Ayn, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Ras al-Ayn is one of the biggest towns along the border and it is in the middle of the area that Turkey plans to set up its safe zone.

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Local residents cheer and applaud as a convoy of Turkish tanks head to the Syrian border (Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)

IS members tried to enter Ras al-Ayn following their rise in Syria and Iraq in 2014 but failed.

Most of the town’s residents have fled in recent days for fear of the invasion.

Earlier Saturday, Turkish troops moved to seize control of key highways in northeastern Syria, the Turkish military and the Syrian Observatory said.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said that Turkey-backed Syrian opposition forces had taken control of the M4 road that connects the towns of Manbij and Qamishli.

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Smoke billows from target in Tel Abyad, Syria (Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)

Turkish troops also cut the route linking the northeastern city of Hassakeh with Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and once commercial centre, according to the Observatory.

Kurdish news agencies including Hawar and Rudaw said that Hevreen Khalaf, secretary general of the Future Syria Party, was killed Saturday as she was driving on the M4 .

The Turkish military aims to clear Syrian border towns of Kurdish fighters’ presence, saying they are a national security threat.

Since Wednesday, Turkish troops and Syrian opposition fighters backed by Ankara have been advancing under the cover of airstrikes and artillery shelling, reaching the Manbij-Qamishli road about 19 miles south of the Turkish border.

Turkey has said it aims to push back the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which it considers terrorists for its links to a decades-long Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. The YPG is a main component of the SDF.

The UN estimated the number of displaced at 100,000 since Wednesday, saying that markets, schools and clinics were also closed.

Aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian crisis, with nearly half a million people at risk in northeastern Syria.

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