Heavy fighting continued on Sunday as Turkey presses ahead in the fifth day of its military operation against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria.

Ankara says the offensive aims to remove the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of rebels led by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), from the border area and create a “safe zone” to which millions of Syrian refugees in Turkey can be resettled.

Turkey considers the YPG as an extension of the outlawed, Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated a “terrorist” organisation by the United States and the European Union.

The United Nations has said that more than 130,000 people have been displaced as a result of the fighting.

Turkey’s military claimed to have control of the key Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain on Saturday, but fighting was still ongoing on Sunday according to a war monitor.