The Latest on the Syria conflict (all times local):

6:10 p.m.

Syria is complaining to the United Nations about the Turkish offensive on a Kurdish enclave in its northwestern region, calling it a "blatant aggression" against it and a violation of the international organization's charter.

In a letter to the U.N. published Thursday, Syria's Foreign Ministry said any foreign troops' presence on its land without its approval is "an aggression and an occupation that will be treated accordingly." It didn't elaborate.

Turkey, together with Syrian allied fighters, launched an assault on Afrin in northwest Syria on Jan. 20, stating it aims to drive the Kurdish militia in charge there away from its borders. Afrin is not under government control, but is led by a Kurdish militia that Turkey accuses of terrorism.

Syria's foreign ministry statement likened the Turkish assault to the U.S.-led coalition operations against Islamic State group militants in Syria. It said the U.N. charter should not be used to justify an attack on another country.

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4:15 p.m.

A Syria war monitoring group says government forces have pushed farther into an opposition stronghold in the northwest of the country, in a drive to secure a key highway between the country's two largest cities.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says government forces have moved within 14 kilometers (9 miles) of the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib, the opposition's largest stronghold in the country. The Damascus-Aleppo highway runs just east of the town.

Local media activist Abdulghani Dabaan says pro-government forces are advancing under the cover of heavy airstrikes. The opposition has limited anti-aircraft capabilities.

The advance comes as Syrian rebels aligned with Turkey wage their own campaign against Kurdish militants farther to the north. That campaign, codenamed Operation Olive Branch, has drawn protest from the U.S. and France, who consider the Kurds an ally in the war on the Islamic State group.

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3:55 p.m.

A U.N. humanitarian official says booby traps and other explosives left behind by the Islamic State group in the Syrian city of Raqqa have killed or wounded an average of 50 people per week since U.S.-backed fighters expelled the radical group in October.

Jan Egeland says civilians are returning to their homes too quickly, adding: "There are explosives all over civilian areas" in Raqqa.

Egeland spoke Thursday to reporters in Geneva after a regular meeting of world and regional powers in a U.N. humanitarian "task force" for Syria. He also said that aid deliveries to "besieged areas" in Syria have fallen to their lowest level since 2015 — before the task force was created — with no access to them at all for the last two months.

He also noted that no medical evacuations from Eastern Ghouta, a large area east of Damascus besieged by government forces, have occurred since late December.

Egeland also cited reports of 15,000 civilians fleeing into the northern town of Afrin, after a Turkish military operation there, as well as reports that local authorities also "have made it hard" for people to flee from the town.

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2:30 p.m.

The Syrian opposition's Higher Negotiations Committee says it is ready to back a Russian-brokered constitutional reform initiative for Syria, so long as it's lead by the United Nations.

Nasr al-Hariri, who heads the committee that represents the Syrian opposition in U.N. talks with the government in Geneva, says any constitutional committee must be formed at the U.N., and include representation from his group.

He spoke in Istanbul at a press conference on Thursday, two days after Russia convened its Syria Congress for National Dialogue in Sochi. The HNC boycotted the Congress, saying it would not lead to peace. Russia is a key ally of the Syrian government.

Deciding the committee's makeup could doom the initiative before it even takes wing. Syrian state media, a government mouthpiece, says Damascus will have two-thirds of the representation on the committee.

Hariri said the HNC would not accept having a committee appointed at Sochi.

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1 p.m.

Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish troops and allied Syrian forces have cleared Syrian Kurdish fighters out of another village in the Afrin enclave in northern Syria.

Anadolu Agency said the forces took control of the village Ali Kar, in the northern tip of the enclave, on Thursday, without providing details on the battle.

The agency said a total of 27 "locations" in Afrin — 20 villages and seven mountains or hills — have been brought under Turkish control since Jan. 20, when Turkey launched an operation against the Syrian Kurdish People's Defense Units, or YPG.

Turkey considers the YPG an extension of outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey and a threat to its security.

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11:45 a.m.

Turkey has fired back after France's president warned it against invading a Kurdish enclave in Syria, calling his remarks an "insult."

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday that France was in no position to "teach a lesson" to Turkey over its cross-border offensive, referring to past French military interventions in Algeria and other parts of Africa.

His comments were in response to remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron, who warned Turkey against an "invasion operation."

Turkey launched the offensive against the Afrin enclave on Jan. 20 to drive out the Syrian Kurdish People's Defense Units, or YPG, a militia it says is an extension of the outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.

Cavusoglu said France understood that Turkey was fighting "terrorists" and did not aim to invade Afrin.