RENEWED clashes erupted on a strategic Syrian hilltop yesterday as Kurdish militia fighters tried to retake it from Turkish troops.

Turkish military officials cancelled a government-organised press tour to Bursayah Hill, separating the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin from the Turkish-controlled town of Azaz, due to “security concerns.”

The Turkish attack — and reported shelling in Idlib province by government forces — overshadowed a Russian-hosted peace conference which opened yesterday.

Kurdish YPG militia fighters, who are battling to keep Turkish troops out of the territory they control, are boycotting the conference, holding Moscow responsible for the invasion.

Ankara considers the YPG an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which it views as a terror group and is subject to a brutal crackdown hitting the entire Kurdish population in Turkey itself.

Turkey’s Interior Ministry said yesterday that authorities had detained 311 people for engaging in “terrorist propaganda” by criticising the Afrin invasion in social media posts.

The ministry said the suspects, who are accused of supporting Syrian Kurdish militia, had been detained in the past week but it did not provide further details.

Last week, Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said the detentions were a government “witch-hunt against critics.”

The capture of Bursayah Hill was Turkey’s top achievement since the start of “Operation Olive Branch,” which has so far claimed the lives of more than 50 civilians in Afrin and three in Turkish towns along the border. Five Turkish soldiers have also been killed.