Erdogan says Turkey will 'clean' entire Syrian border

Ankara/Beirut:President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey will "clean" its entire border with Syria in a sign that the Turkish offensive on the Syrian Kurdish YPG group in northern Syria's Afrin region could be extended further.
Since Turkey's assault in Afrin began nine days ago, it has increased tensions between Ankara and the United States, which has supported the YPG in other parts of Syria in the fight against IS.
"Step by step, we will clean our entire border," Erdogan said in a speech after the army said it had captured Jebel Bursaya, a hill that Turkish media had described as a critical position in recent days.
Erdogan said last week that Turkey might conduct operations eastwards inside Syria all the way to Iraq to clear the YPG from its frontier.
Syrian Kurdish officials have pledged to meet any wider Turkish assault with an "appropriate response". More than a week into their offensive, however, Turkey and allied Syrian rebel groups have made only modest progress fighting into hilly terrain against entrenched foes.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of militias of which the YPG is the strongest, had said earlier on Sunday that there was intense fighting in the area.
A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Turkey and its allied rebel groups had taken the hill, which overlooks the major Syrian town of Azaz, which they also hold.
The Observatory said Turkish air strikes had killed three people in one family early on Sunday in Afrin.
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.
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.