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 A major offensive supported by Russian bombing and Iranian-backed
Shi'ite militias has brought the Syrian army to within 25 km (15
miles) of the Turkish border. The Kurdish YPG militia has exploited
the situation, seizing ground from Syrian rebels to extend its
presence along the Turkish border.
Turkey is infuriated by the expansion of Kurdish influence in
northern Syria, fearing it will encourage separatist ambitions among
its own Kurds. The YPG, which Ankara considers to be a terrorist
group, controls nearly all of Syria's frontier with Turkey.
Speaking to reporters on his plane en route to Ukraine, Davutoglu
said YPG fighters would have taken control of rebel-held Azaz and
the town of Tal Rifaat further south had it not been for Turkish
artillery firing at them over the weekend.
"YPG elements were forced away from around Azaz. If they approach
again they will see the harshest reaction. We will not allow Azaz to
fall," Davutoglu said.
 He said Turkey would make the Menagh air base north of the city of
Aleppo "unusable" if the YPG, which seized it over the weekend from
Syrian insurgents, did not withdraw. He warned the YPG not to move
east of the Afrin region or west of the Euphrates River, long a "red
line" for Ankara.
Azaz came under heavy fire again on Monday. At least 14 civilians
were killed when missiles hit a children's hospital, a school and
other locations, a medic and two residents said.
Syria's rebels, some backed by the United States, Turkey and their
allies, say the YPG is fighting with the Syrian military against
them in the five-year-old civil war. The YPG denies this.
Ankara views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK), which has fought a 31-year-old insurgency for autonomy in
southeast Turkey. Washington, which does not see the YPG as
terrorists, supports the group in the fight against Islamic State in
Syria.
NATO member Turkey is now at risk of being dragged ever deeper into
the Syrian conflict. Turkish financial markets including the lira
currency were weaker on Monday on fears about the situation.
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GROUND INCURSION NOT PLANNED
The Turkish army hit YPG positions in Syria for a third day on
Monday following an attack on a border security outpost in the
Turkish province of Hatay, foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic
said.
Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz denied a report that some
Turkish soldiers had entered Syria at the weekend and said Ankara
was not considering sending troops there, according to the state-run
Anadolu Agency.
The Syrian government had said Turkish forces were believed to be
among 100 gunmen who entered Syria on Saturday with a dozen pick-up
trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, in an operation to supply
insurgents fighting Damascus.
"It is not true ... There is no thought of Turkish soldiers entering
Syria," Yilmaz said.
Yilmaz also denied reports that Saudi Arabian aircraft had already
arrived at Turkey's Incirlik air base to join the fight against
Islamic State militants, but said a decision had been reached for
Saudi to send four F-16 jets.
A Turkish soldier was killed on Sunday evening after Turkey's
security forces clashed with a group at the Syrian border that was
trying to enter Turkey illegally, the armed forces said in a
statement.
The Turkish military, which regularly detains people crossing back
and forth across the border, said the clash occurred in the
Yayladagi area of Hatay province at 7:15 p.m. (1715 GMT).
(Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul, Tulay Karadeniz,
Orhan Coskun and Ece Toksabay in Ankara; Writing by Nick Tattersall;
Editing by David Dolan and Giles Elgood)
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