KILIS, Turkey — Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters were trying to capture a strategic hill in northwestern Syria on Sunday as their offensive to root out Kurdish fighters enters its second week.

Associated Press reporters in the Turkish border town of Kilis heard constant shelling and clashes as Turkish aircraft whizzed above and plumes of smoke rose in the distance.

The Kurdish militia and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported intense fighting on the Bursayah hill, which separates the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin from the Turkey-controlled town of Azaz. The clashes followed intense bombing in the area.

The Turkey-backed forces have been trying to capture the hill since the start of their offensive on Jan. 20, but have met with stiff resistance. The Kurdish militia known as the People’s Defence Units, or YPG, said Turkey sent reinforcements to the area following intense airstrikes.

Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Turkish troops briefly seized the hill at the start of the campaign but lost it to Kurdish fighters hours later.

Abdurrahman said airstrikes landed near Afrin’s main dam for the second time since the offensive began. There were no immediate reports of damage to the 17 April Dam, which provides water and electricity to the enclave, home to hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have fled from other parts of Syria.

The Observatory said it has documented the deaths of at least 42 civilians, 66 YPG fighters and 69 Turkey-backed Syrian fighters. Turkey says five of its soldiers and 16 allied fighters have been killed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday the troops were close to capturing the hill, and again vowed to expand the operation eastward, toward the town of Manbij.

“The terrorists in Afrin and Manbij cannot run from the painful end that awaits them,” he said in a speech to party members in northern Turkey. The crowd responded by chanting: “Hit, hit! Let it reverberate and let (U.S. President Donald) Trump hear.”

Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist group because of its links to Kurdish insurgents fighting in Turkey. The YPG also forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed militia that drove the Islamic State group from much of northern and eastern Syria.

The United States has expressed concerns about the Turkish campaign, fearing it could distract from efforts to defeat IS and ensure the extremists do not regroup.

On Sunday, dozens of people gathered near the Kilis border crossing, chanting “God is great” and waving flags. One protester carried a flag with Erdogan’s picture. Public displays of support for the offensive have been widespread in Turkey, while critics have been detained.

Associated Press writers Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contribute to this report.</s>KILIS, Turkey (AP) - Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters captured a strategic hill in northwestern Syria on Sunday as their offensive to root out Kurdish fighters enters its second week, Turkey's military and Syrian war monitor reported.

Associated Press reporters in the Turkish border town of Kilis heard constant shelling and clashes as Turkish aircraft whizzed above and plumes of smoke rose in the distance.

The Kurdish militia and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported intense fighting on the Bursayah hill, which separates the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin from the Turkey-controlled town of Azaz. The clashes followed intense bombing in the area.

The Turkey-backed forces have been trying to capture the hill since the start of their offensive on Jan. 20, but have been met with stiff resistance. The Kurdish militia known as the People's Defense Units, or YPG, said Turkey sent reinforcements to the area following intense airstrikes.

Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Turkish troops briefly seized the hill at the start of the campaign but lost it to Kurdish fighters hours later. The strategic hill grants Turkey-backed forces an elevated area that overlooks the northeast of Afrin.

Later on Sunday, the Turkish military in a statement that Turkish soldiers and allied Syrian opposition fighters captured the hill, assisted by airstrikes, attack helicopters, armed drones and howitzers. Abdurrahman said the Turkish troops seized control of the large hill, killing nearly a dozen Kurdish fighters.

Abdurrahman said airstrikes landed near Afrin's main dam for the second time since the offensive began. There were no immediate reports of damage to the 17 April Dam, which provides water and electricity to the enclave, home to hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have fled from other parts of Syria.

The Observatory said it has documented the deaths of at least 46 civilians, including 13 children, and three people from the same displace family killed in an airstrike in southwestern Afrin Sunday. The Observatory said 66 YPG fighters and 69 Turkey-backed Syrian fighters were also killed in the offensive. Turkey says five of its soldiers and 15 allied fighters have been killed.

But the numbers may rise. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted that the YPG may be holding Turkish soldiers captive, saying Turkey was taking steps to bring them back. He spoke to one missing soldier's wife Saturday evening, who asked the president to return her husband "alive or martyred."

The Observatory said a number of Turkish soldiers remain missing.

On Sunday, the Observatory and the Kurdish militia said an ancient temple in Afrin was badly damaged from Turkish airstrikes that struck its courtyard late Friday.

Images showed stones piled up in the open court of the temple of Ain Dara, an Iron Age Syro-Hittite temple, which dates back somewhere between the 10th and 8th century B.C. The temple, which features sculptures of lions and sphinxes and "the giant footsteps of the Gods," was noted for its structural similarities to Solomon's temple as described in the Bible. The images from the area, which is about 6 kilometers (nearly 4 miles) from Afrin town, showed that none of the statutes were still intact, with rubble and metal scraps strewn across the temple's floor.

The extent of the damage to the temple could not be independently assessed but the Observatory said it was badly damaged. The Turkish military said it was looking into reports of the destruction.

Erdogan again vowed to expand the operation eastward, toward the town of Manbij.

"The terrorists in Afrin and Manbij cannot run from the painful end that awaits them," he said in a speech on Sunday to party members in Corum province in northern Turkey. The crowd responded by chanting: "Hit, hit! Let it reverberate and let (U.S. President Donald) Trump hear."

Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist group because of its links to Kurdish insurgents fighting in Turkey. The YPG also forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed militia that drove the Islamic State group from much of northern and eastern Syria.

The United States has expressed concerns about the Turkish campaign, fearing it could distract from efforts to defeat IS and ensure the extremists do not regroup.

On Sunday, dozens of people gathered near the Kilis border crossing, chanting "God is great" and waving Turkish flags. One protester carried a flag with Erdogan's picture. Public displays of support for the offensive have been widespread in Turkey, while critics have been detained.

Associated Press writers Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contribute to this report.</s>BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian government and a war monitor said on Sunday that Turkish shelling of the Kurdish-held Afrin region of Syria had seriously damaged an ancient temple.

Ain Dara is an iron age temple with remains of large carved basalt blocks and wall reliefs. Pictures circulating online, which Reuters could not independently verify, showed an apparent shell crater in the site.

A statement from the Syrian government’s antiquities department carried by Syrian state media called for international pressure on Turkey “to prevent the targeting of archaeological and cultural sites”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said Ain Dara was exposed to Turkish shelling, causing significant damage but no casualties.

The Turkish military was not immediately available for comment.

Turkey’s operation against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in Afrin began a week ago and has included heavy bombardment but limited advances by its army or allied Syrian rebel groups.

The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad has condemned the Turkish assault, but it also opposes the YPG and Kurdish aspirations for autonomy in northern parts of Syria.

Syria’s civil war which began in 2011, has led to major damage to many historical remains including widespread destruction in the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Palmyra and the Old City of Aleppo.</s>Horrific images have emerged from a Syrian hospital where dead and injured children were taken after Turkey seized a strategic outpost from Kurdish militia in Syria on Sunday.

Turkish warplanes and artillery seized Mount Barsaya in the Kurdish region of Afrin in northwestern Syria, the military command said, pressing ahead with an operation against Kurdish forces it regards as 'terrorists'.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 51 civilians including 17 children were killed in the offensive on Sunday, including eight from one family, with badly injured victims pictured at an Afrin hospital.

Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on January 20 against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin, supporting Syrian opposition fighters with ground troops and air strikes.

The hill is significant because it overlooks the towns of Kilis and Azaz, either side of the Turkish-Syrian border.

While Turkey brands the YPG a 'terror' group, the militia has received support from the US.

Despite souring relations with Washington, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to expand the offensive against the YPG to Manbij, east of Afrin.

It was reported last week that 34 civilians had died and had their bodies taken to the Afrin hospital in another Turkish airstrike.

The hospital said that more than 70 Turkish jets had fired on Kurdish militias, while a Turkish news agency merely said that barracks and equipment were attacked, according to the Independent.

The Observatory said 66 YPG fighters and 69 Turkey-backed Syrian fighters were also killed, while Turkey said five of its soldiers and 16 allied fighters were killed in the fighting.

In a sign the Turkish campaign has rendered prospects for peace in Syria even fainter, authorities in the war-torn country's Kurdish autonomous region said they will not attend peace talks in Russia.

'We said before that if the situation remained the same in Afrin we could not attend,' regional official Fawza al-Yussef said.

Rebel backer Turkey is one of the sponsors of the talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday and Tuesday, along with Damascus allies Russia and Iran.

Turkish channel NTV broadcast live footage Sunday showing rocket fire targeting Mount Barsaya, located to the north of Afrin.

Turkish troops and their Syrian opposition allies said last Monday they had captured the hill, before losing it again a few hours later.

Syria's antiquities department said on Sunday that Turkish air strikes have damaged a 3,000-year-old temple in the country's north.</s>KILIS, Turkey (AP) — Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters captured a strategic hill in northwestern Syria on Sunday as their offensive to root out Kurdish fighters enters its second week, Turkey's military and Syrian war monitor reported.

Associated Press reporters in the Turkish border town of Kilis heard constant shelling and clashes as Turkish aircraft whizzed above and plumes of smoke rose in the distance.

The Kurdish militia and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported intense fighting on the Bursayah hill, which separates the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin from the Turkey-controlled town of Azaz. The clashes followed intense bombing in the area.

The Turkey-backed forces have been trying to capture the hill since the start of their offensive on Jan. 20, but have been met with stiff resistance. The Kurdish militia known as the People's Defense Units, or YPG, said Turkey sent reinforcements to the area following intense airstrikes.

Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Turkish troops briefly seized the hill at the start of the campaign but lost it to Kurdish fighters hours later. The strategic hill grants Turkey-backed forces an elevated area that overlooks the northeast of Afrin.

Later on Sunday, the Turkish military in a statement that Turkish soldiers and allied Syrian opposition fighters captured the hill, assisted by airstrikes, attack helicopters, armed drones and howitzers. Abdurrahman said the Turkish troops seized control of the large hill, killing nearly a dozen Kurdish fighters.

Abdurrahman said airstrikes landed near Afrin's main dam for the second time since the offensive began. There were no immediate reports of damage to the 17 April Dam, which provides water and electricity to the enclave, home to hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have fled from other parts of Syria.

The Observatory said it has documented the deaths of at least 46 civilians, including 13 children, and three people from the same displace family killed in an airstrike in southwestern Afrin Sunday. The Observatory said 66 YPG fighters and 69 Turkey-backed Syrian fighters were also killed in the offensive. Turkey says five of its soldiers and 15 allied fighters have been killed.

But the numbers may rise. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted that the YPG may be holding Turkish soldiers captive, saying Turkey was taking steps to bring them back. He spoke to one missing soldier's wife Saturday evening, who asked the president to return her husband "alive or martyred."

The Observatory said a number of Turkish soldiers remain missing.

On Sunday, the Observatory and the Kurdish militia said an ancient temple in Afrin was badly damaged from Turkish airstrikes that struck its courtyard late Friday.

Images showed stones piled up in the open court of the temple of Ain Dara, an Iron Age Syro-Hittite temple, which dates back somewhere between the 10th and 8th century B.C. The temple, which features sculptures of lions and sphinxes and "the giant footsteps of the Gods," was noted for its structural similarities to Solomon's temple as described in the Bible. The images from the area, which is about 6 kilometers (nearly 4 miles) from Afrin town, showed that none of the statutes were still intact, with rubble and metal scraps strewn across the temple's floor.

The extent of the damage to the temple could not be independently assessed but the Observatory said it was badly damaged. The Turkish military said it was looking into reports of the destruction.

Erdogan again vowed to expand the operation eastward, toward the town of Manbij.

"The terrorists in Afrin and Manbij cannot run from the painful end that awaits them," he said in a speech on Sunday to party members in Corum province in northern Turkey. The crowd responded by chanting: "Hit, hit! Let it reverberate and let (U.S. President Donald) Trump hear."

Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist group because of its links to Kurdish insurgents fighting in Turkey. The YPG also forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed militia that drove the Islamic State group from much of northern and eastern Syria.

The United States has expressed concerns about the Turkish campaign, fearing it could distract from efforts to defeat IS and ensure the extremists do not regroup.

On Sunday, dozens of people gathered near the Kilis border crossing, chanting "God is great" and waving Turkish flags. One protester carried a flag with Erdogan's picture. Public displays of support for the offensive have been widespread in Turkey, while critics have been detained.

Associated Press writers Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contribute to this report.</s>AIN DARA, Syria (A.W.)—Both the Syrian government and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor confirmed on Sunday that Turkish shelling of Syria’s Afrin region has seriously damaged the Ain Dara Iron Age temple.

In a statement published by Syria’s state-run SANA news agency, the Syrian government called for international pressure to be placed on Turkey to “prevent the targeting of archaeological and cultural sites in Afrin area, which is one of the richest areas in antiquities and cultural heritage in Syria.”

The statement goes on to say that the attack “reflects the extent of hatred, malevolence and the barbarism of the Turkish regime against the Syrian identity and against the past of the Syrian people and their present and future.”

Code-named by Turkey as Operation Olive Branch, the Turkish Armed Forces’ large-scale offensive on the Kurdish-majority Afrin Region of Syria was launched on Jan. 20. Officially, the offensive is against the Kurdish-led Democratic Union Party in Syria (PYD), its armed wing People’s Protection Units (YPG), and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions surrounding the Syrian city of Afrin. Although Turkey also says it is fighting ISIL, it is widely accepted that the terrorist organization does not have a presence in Afrin.

Turkey’s offensive has been widely criticized by many in the international community as an outright attack on the mostly Kurdish civilian population. During the first days of the operation, United States Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert urged Turkey not to engage in the invasion of Afrin, reiterating a statement made by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who also assured that the U.S. had no intention of building a Syria-Turkey border force. The following day, Tillerson said the U.S. was very concerned, adding that the operation’s scope should remain limited and Turkey should “show restraint.”

On Jan. 24, U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a telephone conversation to “de-escalate, limit its military actions, and avoid civilian casualties and increases to displaced persons and refugees.” The Pentagon also asserted Thursday that the “Afrin operations are impeding the task to eliminate ISIS.”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the Turkish aggression against Afrin, calling the town “an inseparable part of Syria.” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called the Turkish invasion “terrorism,” noting that “Turkey’s aggression in the Syrian city of Afrin cannot be separated from the policy pursued by the Turkish regime since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis and built on support for terrorism and various terrorist groups.”

The Dara Iron Age Proto-Hittite Ain Dara temple, is located northwest of Aleppo, near the village of Ain Dara. The temple is noted for its similarities to the biblical Solomon’s Temple, also known as the First Temple. According to the excavator Ali Abu Assaf, the temple was in existence from 1300 BC to 740 BC.

According to several sources, the home of an Armenian family that had settled in Afrin following the Armenian Genocide was shelled on Jan. 24, killing Armenian Rosher Konis. The reports also indicate that Konis’s mother, Shamsa, and sister, Hanifa Konis, were gravely injured in the bombing.

The Hawar News Agency reported that Hartyon Kivork, a relative of the family, confirmed the killing. “[Our] ancestors fled the oppression of the Turkish authorities nearly 100 years ago in the result of the massacres committed by the Turks against the Armenians so that they headed towards Afrin to live in peace among their Kurdish brothers and all other peoples and sects living in the area.”

Kivork added that Turkish occupation army had “resumed its massacres,” which do not differentiate between people and launched “new massacres against all peoples in Afrin to leave our Armenian family as a victim of the Turkish crimes again.”

Hawar released a series of photographs of the injuries sustained by the Konis family, though most of the photographs were blurred and cannot be confirmed to be authentic.

According to several sources, three Armenian families currently live in Afrin. A sizable Armenian community lived there and in the nearby village of Azaz before the Syrian Civil War. Armenian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Tigran Balayan told Armenian reporters on Monday that his ministry is trying to confirm Konis’s death.</s>An Armenian family that fled the Armenian Genocide 100 years ago and found security and stability in Afrin, was attacked by the Turkish massacre that followed them even in Afrin to be the victims of the bombing of the Turkish warplanes in the center of Rajo district, Hawar News Agency reported.

On January 24 and at night, the Turkish warplanes bombed Rajo area, killing ethnic Armenian Rosher Konis, and injuring his mother Shamsa Konis who is at 57, while his sister Hanifa Konis, 25, got her leg amputated.

The agency quoted Hartyon Kivork, a relative of the family, as saying: “Their ancestors fled the oppression of the Turkish authorities nearly 100 years ago in the result of the massacres committed by the Turks against the Armenians so that they headed towards Afrin to live in peace among their Kurdish brothers and all other peoples and sects living in the area.”

Hartyon Kivork added, “But the Turkish occupation army has resumed its massacres which do not differentiate between people and stones to commit new massacres against all peoples in Afrin to leave our Armenian family as a victim of the Turkish crimes again while we used to live in harmony in our homes to be attacked again by the Turkish state.”

Turkey launched an air and ground campaign into Afrin, a Kurdish-controlled enclave in northwestern Syria on January 20.

The Turkish operation aims to oust from Afrin a militia made up of an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 fighters affiliated with the People’s Protection Units or YPG, a Syrian Kurdish group that has controlled territory in northern Syria and proven effective in fighting the Islamic State group.

Turkey considers the YPG to be a terrorist organization and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey.

The Syrian government and a war monitor said on Sunday that Turkish shelling of the Kurdish-held Afrin region of Syria had seriously damaged an ancient temple.

Ain Dara is an iron age temple with remains of large carved basalt blocks and wall reliefs. Pictures circulating online, which Reuters could not independently verify, showed an apparent shell crater in the site.</s>KILIS >> Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters captured a strategic hill in northwestern Syria on Sunday as their offensive to root out Kurdish fighters entered a second week.

Associated Press reporters in the Turkish border town of Kilis heard constant shelling and clashes as Turkish aircraft flew overhead and plumes of smoke rose in the distance.

The Turkey-backed forces have been trying to capture the hill, which separates the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin from the Turkey-controlled town of Azaz, since the start of their offensive on Jan. 20, but have been met with stiff resistance.

The Kurdish militia known as the People’s Defense Units, or YPG, said Turkey sent reinforcements to the area following intense airstrikes on Sunday. It disputed the claim that the Turkish troops and allied fighters were in full control of the hill, saying its forces had redeployed and will fight to reclaim the strategic area.

The Turkish military said in a statement that its soldiers and allied Syrian opposition fighters captured Bursayah hill assisted by airstrikes, attack helicopters, armed drones and howitzers. Rami Abdurrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the Turkish troops seized control of the strategic hill, which overlooks northeastern Afrin, after intense battles.

Abdurrahman said the airstrikes also targeted the area around Afrin’s main dam for the second time since the offensive began. There were no immediate reports of damage to the 17 April Dam, which provides water and electricity to the Kurdish enclave, home to hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have fled from other parts of Syria.

The Observatory said at least 51 civilians, including 17 children, were killed in the offensive on Sunday, including eight people from the same family. It said 66 YPG fighters and 69 Turkey-backed Syrian fighters were also killed. Turkey says five of its soldiers and 16 allied fighters were killed in the fighting. The YPG said one of its female fighters blew herself up, destroying a Turkish tank in southwestern Afrin.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech Sunday that there were reports that the YPG was holding Turkish soldiers captive, adding that Turkey was taking steps to try to bring them back. Erdogan’s statement did not make clear the number of soldiers who were missing or whether they were alive.

Reports also emerged that an ancient temple in Afrin was badly damaged in Turkish airstrikes that struck its courtyard late Friday, according to the Observatory, the YPG and the Syrian government. In a statement published on the Syrian state news agency SANA, the government antiquities department condemned the destruction of the temple.

Images showed stones piled up in the open courtyard of the temple of Ain Dara, an Iron Age Syro-Hittite temple that dates back to sometime between the 10th and 8th centuries B.C. The temple, which features sculptures of lions and sphinxes and “the giant footsteps of the gods,” was noted for its structural similarities to Solomon’s temple as described in the Bible.

In the images taken of the destruction, none of the statutes were still intact, with rubble and metal scraps strewn across the temple’s floor.

SANA said a mosque was also damaged in airstrikes in southwestern Afrin.

A Turkish military official said the airstrikes did not target religious or cultural sites, adding that the images were insufficient to determine the cause of the damage. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military rules. The extent of the damage to the temple could not be independently assessed but the Observatory said it was badly damaged.

In a speech to party members in northern Turkey, Erdogan again vowed to expand the military offensive eastward, toward the Syrian town of Manbij, which is held by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters. The crowd responded by chanting: “Hit, hit! Let it reverberate and let (U.S. President Donald) Trump hear.”

Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist group because of its links to Kurdish insurgents fighting in Turkey. The YPG also forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed militia that drove the Islamic State group from much of northern and eastern Syria.

The United States has expressed concerns about the Turkish campaign, fearing it will distract from efforts to defeat IS and ensure the extremists do not regroup.

On Sunday, dozens of people gathered near the Kilis border crossing, chanting “God is great” and waving Turkish flags. Public displays of support for the offensive have been widespread in Turkey, while critics have been detained.

Separately, a cease-fire deal to halt fighting in the besieged rebel-held Damascus suburb of Ghouta failed to take hold for a second day. The deal, reached in Vienna between the Syrian opposition and Russia, was punctured by continued fighting and intense shelling in the suburb where 400,000 residents live.

Meanwhile, the Observatory said the rebels began an offensive on a government base in Harasta, following intense government shelling. The rebel offensive was met with a barrage of government airstrikes and rockets.

In northwestern Idlib, the Observatory and the first responders known as the White Helmets reported at least 12 civilians were killed in airstrikes in the towns of Saraqeb and Maaret al-Numan.

The violence comes a day before a Russia-backed conference in Sochi that Moscow hopes will steer the Syrian government and opposition toward a peace process. The two-day conference, which is expected to be attended by some 1,600 representatives of the Syrian government and opposition, is boycotted by the main Syria opposition negotiating body. The opposition says the process undermines U.N-led talks, which have so far failed to kick-start a political process.

Associated Press writers Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed to this report.</s>Battle for Syria's Afrin heats up at strategic mountain

Heavy clashes erupted on Sunday between Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army fighters and the PYD/PKK terrorist group at Mt. Bursaya in Afrin, Syria.

Turkish military and Free Syrian Army forces engaged in heavy clashes with the PYD/PKK terrorist group in northern Syria, according to reporters in the region.

The battle at Mt. Bursaya, a strategic peak in northeast Afrin, intensified early Sunday as Turkish-backed forces continue to rid more territories of the terrorist group as part of Operation Olive Branch in northwestern Syria, said the reporters.

The terrorist group has used Mt. Bursaya to target civilians in the center of Turkey’s Kilis province and Syria’s Azaz district through mortar shells, artillery, and missiles.

On Saturday at least three civilians, including a child, were injured when rockets fired by PYD/PKK terrorists from Afrin struck buildings in the Turkish border provinces of Kilis and Hatay.

Eliminating terrorists from Mt. Bursaya will help Turkey reduce the terror threat at its border and protect civilians in Syria.

Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on Jan. 20 to remove PYD/PKK and ISIL terrorists from Afrin, northwestern Syria.

According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey’s borders and the region as well as protect Syrians from terrorist oppression and cruelty.

The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN charter, and respect for Syria's territorial integrity, it said.

Afrin has been a major hideout for the PYD/PKK since July 2012 when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without a fight.</s>ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey’s health minister said on Friday that 14 Turkish soldiers and Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels were killed and another 130 people were wounded following Turkey’s incursion into Syria’s Afrin region.

Speaking to reporters after visiting wounded soldiers in hospitals, Ahmet Demircan said three Turkish soldiers and 11 fighters from Turkey-backed FSA factions have been killed so far in clashes in northern Syria.

He said 130 people had been brought to Turkish hospitals and that 82 of them had been released after receiving treatment. None of the wounded were in critical condition, he said, adding that additional medical personnel were sent to the area.

On Saturday, Turkey launched an offensive against the Kurdish YPG militia, which it views as a security threat, in Syria’s Afrin, opening a new front in the multi-sided Syrian civil war and further straining ties with its NATO ally Washington.

Dozens of combatants and more than two dozen civilians have been killed so far in the offensive, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, has said.

The Turkish military said in a statement on Friday it had killed at least 343 militants in northern Syria since the operation started.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) however, a YPG-dominated umbrella group backed by the United States in the fight against Islamic State, has previously said that Turkey was exaggerating the number of the dead.
Turkish airstrikes and shelling heavily damage the ancient Syro-Hittite Ain Dara temple in Syria's Afrin District. The Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums calls on the international community to pressure Turkey "to prevent the targeting of archaeological and cultural sites".