ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish military, together with the Free Syrian Army, will cross the Syrian border “shortly”, President Tayyip Erdogan’s communications director said early on Wednesday, as Ankara starts a military incursion in the region.

In a tweet, Fahrettin Altun said that Kurdish militants there could either defect or Ankara would have to “stop them from disrupting” Turkey’s struggle against the Islamic State militants.

On Tuesday, Turkey’s military struck the Syrian-Iraqi border to prevent Kurdish forces using the route to reinforce northeast Syria, Turkish officials told Reuters.