Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday he would order an intervention to prevent any splintering of Syria, a warning aimed particularly at the country's Kurdish forces.

Turkey said on Sunday its armed forces "neutralised" 32 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in military operations in northern Syria. The defence ministry also said its operations in northern Iraq "neutralized" four PKK members,

Turkey said Monday that it was "only a matter of time" before Syrian Kurdish fighters -- seen by the West as essential in the fight against Islamic State jihadists -- will be wiped out.