Turkey on Monday said one of the key aims of its unprecedented operation in northern Syria was to prevent the creation of a corridor stretching from Iraq to the verge of the Mediterranean controlled by Kurdish militia.

The goal of the operation was to rid the region of Islamic State (IS) jihadists and prevent the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia "from completing an end-to-end corridor" across Syria, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus was quoted as saying by NTV television. "If that happens, it means Syria has been divided," he added