Turkish-led forces capture 37th village from Kurdish militants

Syria’s deputy foreign minister has called on Kurds and Arabs in the region of Afrin in northwest Syria to unite to repel the Turkish operation, Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)-owned broadcaster Rudaw said .

Deputy Minister Fayssal Mikdad also said that his country “will down any jet that launches an assault on Syria and that is not a mere threat”, Rudaw said.

The Turkish Armed Forces' capture of Kudah Kuwi village in Syria, due east of İskenderun on the southern Turkish coast, from majority-Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militants marks the 37th village captured by Turkey's coalition with elements of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) during the 27-day campaign, pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah said .

"The Turkish army and FSA also found many anti-personnel landmines, which are banned by the Ottawa Treaty, in areas liberated from terrorists," the newspaper said.

Witnesses told Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)-owned news website Kurdistan24 that Turkey had begun bombing villages in the Bulbul mountains, citing local witnesses.

Additionally, "at a front in the Raju district, west of Afrin, there were heavy clashes between the YPG and the Turkish military where Kurdish forces said they seized large amounts of weapons left by the Turkish soldiers who allegedly withdrew from the area", the news website said.

The United States has carried out a series of hostile actions against Turkey that includes a “secret embargo”, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım told BBC Turkish in an interview on Wednesday.

The interview comes day before U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s planned visit to Turkey during a period of high tensions over Turkey’s military incursion into Syria that has raised the possibility of a military confrontation between the two allies.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu followed his president’s lead during a speech on Wednesday by threatening the United States with an “Ottoman slap” if they continue supporting Turkey’s enemies, the Turkish daily Birgün reported.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had warned the United States that it would receive the “Ottoman slap” if the two countries came to blows in Manbij, an area in northwest Syria which Turkey has threatened to invade to combat armed Kurdish groups that Turkey considers terrorists.

Investors are nervous that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will take advantage of public enthusiasm for the ongoing Turkish offensive in northwest Syria by calling early elections, the business news firm Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The presidential elections will be the first time the country chooses its president under the new executive presidency system, which the country is set to adopt after a controversial referendum in April 2017.