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Turkish and Kurdish forces battle for border town in Syria

Turkey began its military incursion a week ago.

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Smoke billows from fires in Syria

Turkish artillery has been pounding suspected Syrian Kurdish positions near a town in north-east Syria as Turkey’s military incursion enters its seventh day.

Heavy bombardment of targets in the countryside of Ras al Ayn has been reported, days after Turkey announced that it had captured the border town.

Turkish jets also carried out at least one air strike.

Turkish army personnel carriers
Turkish army personnel carriers parked on a road towards the border of Syria (Emrah Gurel/AP)

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, reported Kurdish fighters had retaken the town.

A Turkish military official denied reports that Turkey had begun an assault on the Kurdish-held town of Manbij.

Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended Turkey’s offensive in an article in the Wall Street Journal, calling on the international community to support the initiative or “begin admitting refugees” from Syria.

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