Thousands flee advancing Turks

BEIRUT -- France's top diplomat and the U.S. defense secretary Tuesday urged Turkey to exercise restraint in its offensive against an enclave controlled by a Kurdish militia in northern Syria, where civilians are reportedly on the run or hunkered down in basements and caves in fear of the advancing Turkish military and allied troops.

The calls for restraint come as Turkey pressed ahead with its operations in Afrin for the fourth straight day, meeting stiff resistance from the Kurdish militia controlling the enclave.

Encircling Afrin from three areas, Turkish troops and allied fighters have been attempting to push their way into the area while Kurdish fighters push back.

Access to Afrin is restricted, and it is difficult to independently verify developments of the battles or the ensuing humanitarian situation. International aid groups also have no presence in Afrin, which is surrounded by Turkey and rival Syrian forces.

On Tuesday, the Kurdish militia, known as the People's Defense Units or YPG, regained control of a village breached by the Turkish forces earlier. The Turkish forces also were repelled from a hill they seized a day earlier on the eastern edge of the district.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said intense fighting between Turkish troops and the U.S.-allied Kurdish militia in recent days is a sign new conflicts could erupt in the region as the Islamic State group is defeated.

He warned without a political solution to the multi-sided Syrian civil war, the region could again explode with conflicts "just as dramatic" as the war on IS.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also warned the fighting was distracting from the war on terror and disrupting humanitarian relief efforts.

"The violence in Afrin disrupts what was a relatively stable area of Syria," he said while traveling in Asia. "It distracts from the international efforts to ensure the defeat of ISIS."

Turkey's "Operation Olive Branch" is straining relations with its NATO allies. The U.S. military is a partner of the YPG and operates bases in Kurdish-controlled territory in north Syria but not near or in Afrin.

Turkey says it aims to create a 20-mile-deep "secure zone" in Afrin, a Kurdish-controlled enclave on its border. At least three Turkish soldiers were killed since the offensive began Saturday.

Activists say at least 27 civilians were killed in Afrin during the Turkish offensive.

Meanwhile, Turkish police have arrested at least 55 people in a sweep against alleged supporters of the YPG inside Turkey, according to Anadolu Agency.

Turkey says the YPG is an extension of an outlawed Kurdish rebel group it is fighting inside its own borders and it has found common cause with Syrian opposition groups who view the YPG as a counter-revolutionary force in Syria's intricate civil war.

As Turkey's military and allied Syrian forces pressed their campaign, Turkey shelled a city in northeastern Syria, hundreds of miles away from the Afrin front, said a spokesman for the YPG.