TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed authority over northern Syria and Iraq yesterday as his proxy forces clashed with Kurdish militia.

Mr Erdogan aserted that the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia and the Islamic State (Isis) terrorists they are fighting “are just pawns serving the same purpose and same master” and vowed to drive the Kurds from Manbij, the Syrian town they liberated this summer after months of hard fighting.

Turning to the ongoing liberation of Iraq’s second city Mosul, Mr Erdogan vowed: “We’ll take part in Mosul just like we do in Syria now.”