A senior Turkish official said Ankara favors a ground operation into neighboring Syria but only with its allies.

A senior Turkish official said Ankara favors a ground operation into neighboring Syria but only with its allies.

"We want a ground operation with our international allies," AFP news agency quoted the official as saying.

"There is not going to be a unilateral military operation from Turkey to Syria," the official told reporters in Istanbul.

"Without a ground operation it is impossible to stop the fighting in Syria," he added.

"We are asking the coalition partners that there should be a ground operation," the official said.

Turkey said last week that it was mulling intervention in Syria with Saudi Arabia. On Sunday, Riyadh deployed warplanes at Incirlik airbase in Turkey.

Turkish artillery has struck at Kurdish militia targets in Syria over the past few days, putting Ankara.

Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz had said on Sunday that Ankara had no intention of intervening in Syria.