DAMASCUS, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army on Wednesday fought intense battles with the Turkish army and Turkey-backed Syrian rebels in the north of country amid the ongoing Turkish assault, state news agency SANA reported.
The Syrian army and the Turkish forces clashed in the Tal al-Ward area in the south of the city of Ras al-Ayn in the countryside of Hasakah Province in northeastern Syria, said SANA.
The Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels shelled villages near the town of Tall Tamr in Hasakah countryside with dozens of mortar rounds, which led to a massive displacement of civilians, it added.
The Turkish forces also launched a wide-scale offensive on the area of Abu Rasain near Ras al-Ayn and seized two villages in the area after artillery shelling and airstrikes, said SANA.
According to SANA, the Kurdish militia in Tall Tamr area set tires on fire to divert the attention of the Turkish warplanes.
Over the past few days, the Syrian army sent thousands of soldiers to deploy where the Kurdish forces have been pulling out on the Syrian-Turkish border to counter the Turkish offensive.
On Oct. 9, Turkey launched an operation to clear the Kurdish militia from northern Syria in the east of the Euphrates river to eliminate what Turkey perceives as a threat to its border security, impose a safe zone and resettle millions of Syrian refugees.
On Oct. 13, the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria said the Syrian army will deploy along the border with Turkey in an agreement with the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria to help repel a Turkish offensive.
The United States reached a deal with Turkey on Oct. 17, imposing a five-day cease-fire to allow the Kurdish forces to pull back from the planned safe zone that Turkey wants to create in northern Syria.
On Oct. 22, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a meeting in Sochi, Russia, agreeing on the parameters of the proposed Turkish safe zone in northern Syria.
The deal stipulates that the Kurdish militia of the Syrian Democratic Forces and its broader umbrella of the People's Protection Units will pull back 30 km south of Turkey's border within 150 hours.
Joint patrols by Turkish and Russian forces will cover the area, according to the deal.
