(Reuters) -- Birusk Hasaka, the YPG spokesman in Afrin, said Turkish forces were repulsed after fierce clashes.

Another YPG official, Nouri Mahmoudi, said "all the Turkish military's ground attacks against Afrin have been repelled so far and they have been forced to retreat."

Ankara earlier said the Turkish military had entered Afrin.

(Photo: Turkish military trucks carrying tanks and other armoured vehicles cross through a border gate into a Turkish-controlled region of the Oncupinar border crossing with Syria, known as Bab al Salameh in Arabic, near the city of Kilis, Turkey, late Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018. The deployment occurred hours after dozens of Turkish jets bombed Syrian Kurdish militia targets in the enclave of Afrin. (Can Erok/DHA-Depo Photos via AP)