Turkey threatened Tuesday to launch a military operation against Kurdish forces in Syria unless they accepted Ankara's conditions for a "bloodless" transition after the fall of strongman president Bashar al-Assad.

Since the ousting of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month by rebels, some of whom Turkey supported, Ankara has demanded that the YPG disband, its non-Syrian militants and foreign terrorist fighters leave Syria, or be repatriated to their source countries, and its leaders turn themselves in.

The fall of Bashar Assad to Islamist-led rebels has raised the prospect of Turkey intervening in Syria against Kurdish forces accused by Ankara of links to armed separatists.