FIGHTING RAGES AS TURKS PUSH INTO KURDISH ZONES

HASSA, TURKEY Intense fighting flared Monday as Turkish troops and their allies advanced on a Kurdish enclave in northwestern Syria, the third day of Ankara’s offensive to oust a U.S.-allied Kurdish militia from the area, according to the militia and a war monitoring group.

Skirmishes between Turkish troops and Kurdish fighters also broke out farther east in Syria, threatening to widen the scope of the new front in the Syrian war that pits Turkey against Washington’s main ally in the region.

The Turkish ground and air offensive on Afrin, code-named Operation Olive Branch, began Saturday, raising tensions in the already-complicated Syrian conflict and threatening to further strain ties between Turkey and the U.S., both NATO allies. Turkey says it aims to create a 30-km deep “secure zone” in Afrin, the Kurdish-controlled enclave on its border. The UN Security Council was scheduled to convene Monday about the situation.

A NATO statement said it has contacted Turkey over the offensive. NATO said Turkey has suffered from terrorism and has the right to self-defence but urged Ankara to do so in a “proportionate and measured way.”