A Turkey-backed Syrian rebel fighter fires a weapon in the town of Tal Abyad
WHAT IS THE AIM OF TURKEY'S OFFENSIVE? - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan says he wants to settle up to two million Syrian refugees, many of them Sunni Arabs, into the region targeted in the operation, territory which is currently controlled by Kurdish-led forces. Turkish troops and Ankara-backed Syrian rebels have focused in the first week of operations on driving Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters from two major border towns, Tel Abyad and Ras al Ain, about 75 miles apart. Despite a chorus of global criticism, Erdogan has said nothing will stop operations against Kurdish YPG fighters, considered terrorists by Ankara because of their links to guerrillas waging an insurgency in southeast Turkey. Erdogan has said Turkey will seize a border strip running hundreds of miles from Kobani in the west to Hasaka in the east and 18 to 22 miles deep inside Syria. A Turkish official told Reuters the operation was proceeding "quite rapidly and successfully." The first phase would be complete by Nov. 13, when Erdogan is due to meet Trump during a visit to Washington, he said, without specifying how far Turkey would have gone by then. REUTERS/Photo credit: Khalil Ashawi