Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country's military operation against Kurdish forces inside Syria will not stop until those he considers "terrorists" are cleared.

Several countries, including the US, the UK and France, have already voiced alarm, but no country has categorically urged Turkey to halt the Turkish military operation.

Turkish military officials escorted a small group of mainly international media - including Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford - over the border into Syria to show them Operation Olive Branch in action.

Here is Alex Crawford's report from northern Syria:

We were taken in an armoured bus to Azaz, on the fringes of Afrin Province - a Kurdish-controlled enclave which President Erdogan has vowed to "clear" of YPG fighters he classes as "terrorists".


Shortly after we arrived, the band of journalists, camera crews and senior Turkish officials, who had flown in from Ankara, came under fire.

Sky crew comes under fire in Syria

The armed Syrian fighters with us - and the entire group - scurried for cover as arms fire rang out and bullets whizzed past.

The military operation appears to be making slow progress.

The region has had days of rain, cloud and chilly weather but a high-ranking official from the Turkish Prime Minister's office told Sky News that this was due instead to their desire to safeguard civilians.

The media group was later taken to see a school in Azaz which has been rebuilt with Turkish money. We saw Syrian children sitting in brand new classrooms.

Image: Turkey's leader insists Operation Olive Branch is not an invasion

Their teacher encouraged them to say "thank you, Turkey" for the cameras and visiting officials.

The trip involved viewing a new hospital wing funded by Turkish money and then a camp full of thousands of displaced people who had fled fighting in other areas of Syria.

Several of the children waved Turkish flags.

The different sides in this increasingly complex conflict are offering starkly different versions of what is happening on the ground.

Images taken by a cameraman filming for Sky News inside the Kurdish-run Afrin city centre show injured children in hospitals and crowds of mourning civilians.

Image: The journalists were taken on a tour of a school in Azaz, which has been rebuilt with Turkish money

The Turkish government insists the YPG are masters of what they call "dark propaganda" and are feeding the Western media with old or manipulated images in order to garner sympathy.

Journalists covering the military operation are regularly sent emails by Turkish outlets reminding them it is an offence under Turkish law to circulate what they call terrorist propaganda.

President Erdogan insists Operation Olive Branch is not an invasion; despite the presence and actions of his military inside a neighbouring country.

But there is palpable anger amongst the Turkish hierarchy at the continued arming and support of the YPG by the Americans.

The group was supplied with weapons, intelligence and technology as part of their help in fighting Islamic State in Syria.

The Kurds formed the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Force which ousted the Islamic militants from Syria.

But Turkey regards them as simply a different branch but with the same aims as the outlawed PKK.

Turkey strikes Kurdish targets in Syria

The PKK is fighting an insurgency inside Turkish borders and wants to see an independent Kurdistan spreading across Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

While the US regards the PKK as a terror outfit, it has viewed the YPG as a vital fighting unit within the Syrian Democratic Force.

President Erdogan insists the bombing in Syria is for his country's security and to protect Syrian people too from the YPG.

He has vowed the military action will go on as long as it is necessary to "clear" the area of the Kurdish fighters.

The Syrian armed groups opposing Bashar al Assad's regime have long enjoyed the support and backing of Turkey which has been supplying them with weapons and training.

Opposition fighters have been filmed fanning across the Syrian countryside and marching in trenches as well as launching attacks into Afrin Province from hillside positions.

For now, their ambitions to topple the Syrian leader have been put on hold whilst they join forces with their Turkish backers in their joint aim to crush Kurdish territorial ambitions.

In this multi-faceted conflict, the position on the ground has just got even more complex and the stakes have been raised even higher.