Turkey on Saturday launched a new air and ground operation to oust a Kurdish militia from their northern Syrian enclave, defying US warnings that the action risked further destabilising the area after almost seven years of civil war. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had repeatedly vowed that Turkey would root out the “nests of terror” in Syria of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia which Turkey deems a terror organisation. Turkey’s army said operation “Olive Branch” began at 1400 GMT and was aimed at the YPG and Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
