The Latest: Turkey's Erdogan criticizes US over Syrian Kurds
By Associated Press
Mar 20, 2018 5:16 AM CDT
Turkish soldiers, positioned in the city center of Afrin, northwestern Syria, Monday, March 19, 2018, a day after they took the control of the area. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday following victory in Syria's Afrin region, his country will expand its military operations into other...   (Associated Press)

BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

12:10 p.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the United States to "show respect" and "walk with" its NATO ally. His remarks are the latest criticism by the Turkish leader of Washington over its engagement with Syrian Kurdish militia.

Erdogan's comments on Tuesday came in reply to statements from the U.S. State Department expressing concern over Turkey's cross-border offensive in the northwestern Syrian enclave of Afrin, which Turkish troops and allied Syrian forces captured from the Syrian Kurdish militia on Sunday.

Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish militia as extension of outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.

Addressing ruling party legislators in Ankara, Erdogan said: "On the one hand you say you're our strategic partner, and then you go collaborate with terrorists... If we're going to be strategic partners, you have to respect us and walk with us."

Erdogan said the Turkish operations in Afrin would continue "for a while longer" as Turkey's military and Turkish-backed opposition fighters clear the region of booby traps and other explosives.

The Turkish leader said 46 Turkish security force members and 269 Syrian opposition fighters were killed in the eight-week offensive.

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11:05 a.m.

A Syrian war monitoring group says Islamic State militants have captured a largely vacant neighborhood in Damascus following intense fighting with pro-government forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says militants seized Qadam late on Monday, a week after Syrian rebels had surrendered the neighborhood to the government

The Observatory says 36 pro-government fighters were killed in clashes, and dozens more wounded or captured. It says the Syrian government has sent reinforcements into the area.

Earlier, IS claimed to have captured Qadam in a statement circulating on Twitter.

There was no immediate comment from the government.

The fighting in Qadam, which is south of Damascus, came as Syrian forces are focused on recapturing the rebel-held eastern Ghouta suburbs of the country's capital.