Erdogan hopes Syrian rebels will advance, but raises alarm about some fighters

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said he hoped Syrian rebels will continue their advance against President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria, but voiced concern about what he said were terrorist organizations in their midst.

Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayers he was closely following the push which he said was heading to the Syrian capital. But he suggested he had mixed feelings, given some of the forces involved.

"The target is Damascus," he said. "I would say we hope for this advance to continue without any issues.

"However, while this resistance there with terrorist organizations is continuing, we had made a call to Assad," he added, referring to his approaches to Assad earlier this year to meet and normalize ties after more than a decade of animosity.

"These problematic advances continuing as a whole in the region are not in a manner we...