Ankara asked the US to stop Kurdish militia forces, which it considers “terrorists,” from moving to Syria’s Afrin region to battle against a Turkish military offensive, AFP reported. The Pentagon said on Monday that Turkey’s Afrin offensive caused an “operational pause” in their mission against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) group. “The US is expected to step in to stop YPG/PYD forces shifting – under US control – from Manbij to Afrin,” Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in televised remarks on Wednesday. “This is our most natural right… We have taken all the necessary measures on the ground,” he said. The YPG forms the bulk of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against IS jihadists.