One day after announcing 'Operation Olive Branch'. Turkish forces launched a ground offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denounced the move as 'brutal aggression.' Last week, Damascus said it would shoot down any Turkish fighter jets flying over Syria. But so far, there's been no response. The escalating conflict has some questioning Turkey's motives. As CGTN's Michal Bardavid reports, Iran and Egypt have condemned the offensive. Russia removed some of its troops from Syria, while France has called an emergency meeting of the U-N Security Council for Monday.

The military offensive dubbed Operation Olive Branch started with Turkish tanks crossing into northern Syria to support the Syrian rebels on the ground in Afrin.

MICHAL BARDAVID HASSA, TURKEY "The region you see behind me is part of the Turkish Syrian border - the area beneath the mountains is part of Afrin where the operation is taking place. The pounding sounds of Turkish artillery could be heard here throughout the day." 

The Turkish army also announced dozens of warplanes had attacked Kurdish YPG positions and had targeted shelters, hideouts and weapons depots.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had repeatedly stated the aim of the operation was to clear the border area of terrorists who have launched attacks from Syria. On Sunday, Erdogan had messages for the future of Afrin

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN PRESIDENT OF TURKEY "The important thing is, do we have 3.5 million Syrian brothers in our country? Yes, we do. Our goal is to send the 3.5 million Syrian brothers in our country back to their land." 

Erdogan also once again warned Kurds not to take a stand.

Yet there were some retaliation. In the early hours of Sunday, the Turkish border town of Kilis was hit by rockets fired from Syria. In the afternoon, more rockets dropped into Turkey, this time the border town of Reyhanli. At least one person was killed and more than 30 wounded. Turkey says rockets have been fired from YPG positions in Afrin.

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced a four-stage military operation to clear out what he says are as many as 10 thousand terrorists in Afrin.

The YPG has called on its members to resist the ground offensive and has accused Russia being partly responsible for the operation by allowing Turkey to access Syrian airspace. Michal Bardavid, CGNT, Istanbul.