Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stressed that military Operation Olive Branch will not be confined to Afrin, which now falls under its control, but it will extend to Manbij, Idlib and other areas in northern Syria. Speaking at his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s 6th ordinary provincial congress in the Black Sea province of Trabzon on Sunday, Erdogan said that the ongoing operation in Syria will achieve its goal when Tal Rifaat in northern Aleppo is brought under Turkish control. “God willing, we will achieve this operation’s goal by taking control of Tal Rifaat within a short period,” he said. The Turkish president said 302 members of Free Syrian Army (FSA) have been killed since the launch of the operation on January 20. Turkey has repeatedly underscored that its military advance is aimed at "clearing" the Turkish-Syrian border from the terrorist threat of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Kurdish political party in northern Syria, and the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) that are linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Ankara considers a terrorist organization. Erdogan also urged the US to transfer control of Manbij to the city’s “real owners." "If the PKK/YPG terror group is not cleared from Manbij, we will be forced to clear them from the city with the support of the local Syrian people," Erdogan said. “Our brothers are sending messages demanding Turkey to bring security and stability, starting from Tal Rifaat, Manbij, Tal Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and all the areas there... We will meet their request," the president stressed. In another conference, held in the northern Turkish province of Giresun province, Erdogan said a total of 3,747 terrorists have been neutralized since the start of Operation Olive Branch in Afrin.