Up to 100,000 civilians fleeing ahead of Turkish advance into NE Syria

Country’s president Erdogan vows to continue military offensive

Turkish forces faced fierce resistance from Kurdish fighters on the third day of Ankara’s offensive in northern Syria, as casualties mounted and the number of those who fled the violence was put at 100,000.

Turkey said it captured more Kurdishheld villages in the border region, while a hospital in a Syrian town was abandoned and a camp of 4,000 displaced residents about seven miles from the frontier was evacuated after artillery shells landed nearby.

Reflecting international fears that Turkey’s offensive could revive the Islamic State group, two car bombs exploded outside a restaurant in the Kurdish-controlled urban centre of Qamishli, killing three people, and the extremists claimed responsibility. The city was also heavily shelled by Turkish forces.

Kurdish fighters waged intense battles against advancing Turkish troops that sought to take control of two major towns along the Turkish-syrian border, a war monitor said.

The UN estimated the number of displaced at 100,000 since Wednesday, saying that markets, schools and clinics were closed. Aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian crisis, with nearly half a million people at risk in north-eastern Syria.

President Donald Trump cleared the way for Turkey’s air and ground invasion after he pulled American troops from their positions near the border, drawing swift bipartisan criticism that he was endangering regional stability and putting at risk the lives of Kurdish allies who brought down the Islamic State group in Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country “will not take a step back” from its offensive.

“We will never stop this step. We will not stop no matter what anyone says,” he said in a speech yesterday.

Plumes of black smoke billowed from the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad as Turkey continued bombarding the area in an offensive that was progressing “successfully as planned,” the Turkish Defence Ministry said.

Turkish troops and their allied Syrian opposition forces have advanced up to five miles into Syrian territory, Turkish vice president Fuat Oktay told TRT World television.

Turkey has said the military intends to move 19 miles into Syria and that its operation will last until all “terrorists are neutralised.”

Picture: AP. Plumes of smoke billow from the town of Tel Abyad, Syria, during bombardment by Turkish forces.

Mourners attend the funeral of a local man who was killed after rockets and mortar shells hit the Turkish town of Sanliurfa. Picture: Getty