Turkey threatened Tuesday to launch a military operation against Kurdish forces in Syria unless they accepted Ankara's conditions for a "bloodless" transition after the fall of strongman president Bashar al-Assad.

"We will do what's necessary" if the People's Protection Units (YPG) fail to meet Ankara's demands, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told CNNTurk television. Asked what that might entail, he said: "Military operation".

Assad's overthrow by Islamist-led rebels last month raised the prospect of Turkey intervening directly in the country against Kurdish forces accused by Ankara of links to armed separatists.

Ankara accuses the YPG -- seen by the West as essential in the fight against Islamic State jihadists -- of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey.

The PKK has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and........

© Al Monitor