TURKEY condemned its Nato ally the United States yesterday after US troops were photographed fighting alongside Kurdish militia forces in Syria.

The People’s Protection Units (YPG) confirmed that soldiers seen wearing the militia’s insignia patches in pictures taken by an AFP news agency photographer were US special forces fighting alongside guerillas battling Islamic State (Isis).

The US has some 300 commandos in Syria as advisers to the YPG, which launched an offensive against the Isis stronghold of Raqqa this week.

The YPG and its parent organisation the Democratic Union Party (PYD) are allied to the Turkish-Iraqi Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey has declared a terrorist force.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu rejected US excuses that the patches were only for the troops’ protection.

“In that case, we would recommend they use the patches of Daesh [Isis], al-Nusra and al-Qaida when they go to other parts of Syria and of Boko Haram when they go to Africa,” he said.

Meanwhile, Isis seized large swathes of the Free Syrian Army’s pocket of territory around Azaz near the Turkish border overnight, with heavy fighting continuing yesterday.

The counteroffensive, following weeks of slow FSA advances that saw six villages fall, threatens to cut the Western-backed militants’ territory in two and placed Isis on the outskirts of Azaz yesterday afternoon, ready to storm the town last night.

The YPG, no ally of the FSA, was reportedly massing forces in its enclave of Efrin, near Azaz.

Turkey fired artillery barrages from across the frontier and the US-led coalition launched air strikes in a bid to save its allies, whose various groupings in the enclave merged as the Army of Mujahideen a few days ago.

Elite Syrian army troops have reportedly been deployed to the region to lead an offensive to cut off FSA and other forces in the east of Aleppo, who launched more deadly artillery attacks against government-held areas overnight.

In Hama province, the Red Crescent secured the release of 20 civilians kidnapped on May 12 by Ahrar ash-Sham from the village of Zara, where the militants massacred 42 women, children and elderly people.

In Geneva, United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura refused on Thursday to convene further peace talks for two or three weeks, saying that the ceasefire must be enforced and humanitarian aid delivered first.