TURKISH troops rained shells down upon northern Syria today in a bid to deter Damascus government forces from joining their erstwhile Kurdish enemies to fight off Turkey’s invasion.

Pro-Ankara and pro-Damascus sources reported heavy shelling in and around the towns of Harbul, Maryamin, Sheikh Issa, Tal Riffat and Tarandah as well as numerous villages along the main road that leads from Syrian army-held territory into Afrin.

State news agency Sana reported hours earlier that Syrian government forces would enter the Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin “within hours” following an agreement with the YPG fighters that control the area.

Syrian troops and pro-government militia were mustering in northern Aleppo this afternoon, reportedly waiting for a green light to continue into Afrin.

Senior Kurdish official Badran Jia Kurd told Reuters today that government troops would be allowed along the border to ward off further Turkish military activity and would enter Afrin within two days.

And a Syrian Kurdish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press: “The army will set up military positions in the border area and the agreement is that the Syrian army and the YPG will defend Syria together.”

But Brusk Hasake, YPG spokesman in Afrin, denied that any agreement had been reached with Damascus.

“The information is not true,” he told Russia’s Sputnik news agency. “We have repeatedly stated that the Syrian government army has not and will not enter Afrin. We will make an official announcement if an agreement is reached or the situation changes in any way.”

Nonetheless, the Syrian army allowed two busloads of YPG volunteers through its lines today. The volunteers moved from Aleppo to bolster the defence of Afrin.

Ankara made it clear that any alliance would not stop its Operation Olive Branch invasion aimed at wiping out the YPG, which Turkey considers an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party.

Turkish Foreign Minster Mevlut Cavusoglu vowed to press on. “We have started an operation in Afrin in order to get rid of the threat to our national security,” he said from Jordan. “We still insist on this.”

He said, if President Bashar al-Assad’s forces were there to “clear [the area] from YPG, there are no problems,” but he warned: “If they support terrorists, no-one will stop us.”

Turkey has now arrested 786 people for opposing its invasion of Afrin, the Interior Minister announced today. Ankara considers any criticism of its bloody invasion to be “terror propaganda.”