Turkey deployed on Monday special forces to the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin for a “new battle” in its five-week campaign against the Kurdish YPG militia, despite a UN call at the weekend for a ceasefire across Syria. Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies, supported by Turkish air strikes, have pushed the Kurdish fighters back from most of Turkey’s border with Afrin since they launched their assault on Jan. 20. "Deploying special forces is part of the preparation for a new fight that is approaching," Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag, also government spokesman, said. An unknown number of gendarmerie and police special forces entered the region on Sunday night, state news agency Anadolu said. Bozdag said the fight continued in villages and countryside far from Afrins center. "The fight will shift to places where there are civilians, as the area (of fighting) narrows," Bozdag said during an interview with NTV broadcaster. The deputy prime minister said the special forces had experience fighting against militants in residential areas of Turkey "without harming civilians". Turkey views the YPG as a "terrorist" Syrian extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union. But the YPG has been working closely with the US against the ISIS extremist group in Syria, much to Ankaras infuriation. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week said Turkey would lay siege to the center of the town of Afrin "in the coming days". The UN Security Council on Saturday adopted a resolution on a 30-day truce in Syria to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations after intense regime bombardment of the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta, which killed hundreds. French President Emmanuel Macron told Erdogan during a telephone call on Monday that the ceasefire for Syria must be applied across the country, including Afrin. "The President of the Republic stressed that the humanitarian truce applied to all of Syria, including Afrin, and should be implemented everywhere and by all without any delay to stop the ongoing spiral of violence that could lead to a regional explosion and push away any hope of a political solution," Macrons office said in a statement. Macron told Erdogan that Frances monitoring of humanitarian access and chemical weapons was "total and permanent". Bozdag said earlier on Monday that the UN decision "did not affect the Afrin operation".