Mr. Erdogan said 109 Kurdish fighters had been killed, as Turkish troops captured villages on the Syrian side of the border and moved deeper into Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll among Kurdish forces at 23. Six civilians were killed in Turkey on Thursday by mortars fired from the Syrian side, according to Turkish officials, while Kurdish forces reported five civilians had died under Turkish bombs. A U.S. defense official said that the Turkish offensive consisted largely of ”shaping operations,” strikes and actions to prepare the way for larger-scale ground movements. You may also likeUp Next Your browser does not support HTML5 video. Created with sketchtool.0:00 / 0:00 The Turkish military began an offensive in Syria to seize territory held by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, drawing disapproval from President Trump, who had shifted U.S. troops out of the area. Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images The U.S. […]