Turkey vows to extend offensive in Syria

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said the country’s offensive in the Kurdish-held region of Syria would continue until it eliminates the last “terrorist.” Erdogan renewed his threat to extend the offensive to the eastern city of Manbij, which remains under the control of U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters. “We will clean our region from this trouble completely,” he said. Turkey on Saturday launched its Operation Olive Branch against the northwestern Afrin region. Turkey considers the Kurdish militia a terror group affiliated with other Kurdish rebels who staged attacks in the country. Earlier on Tuesday, the Turkish military claimed it had killed at least 260 Kurdish fighters and Islamic State (ISIS) militants since the offensive began. Erdogan said Turkish troops suffered seven or eight casualties. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called on Turkey to exercise restraint in its offensive: “The violence in Afrin disrupts what was a relatively stable area in Syria and distracts from the international effort to defeat ISIS.”