State Department’s Spokeswoman, Heather Nauert said the U.S. is concerned over the Turkish operation on Afrin due to “an escalation of violence,” adding that Washington has called for a de-escalation of violence in the region.

“The more that we would see Turkish forces enter into Syria proper, deeper into Syria, the more that it stands to create a potential humanitarian crisis,” she said on Tuesday, March 6.

Ankara and allied Syrian rebels launched their offensive against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin on January 20 and have since captured a strip along the border between the enclave and Turkish territory.

The operation has so far captured 40 percent of the enclave, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor said on Tuesday.

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Tuesday it would redeploy 1,700 fighters from front lines against Islamic State (IS) to the region of Afrin to repel Turkish attacks on the region.

Reporter’s code: 50101