Projectiles have reportedly been fired from inside Syrian territory onto Turkey, prompting Turkish troops to respond in kind.
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NTV said Turkey’s military fired 40 shells at four Islamic State targets in northern Syria, near where Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are preparing to battle Islamic State for control of the strategic town of Jarablus.
Turkey has increased security measures at its border opposite IS-held Jarablus, deploying tanks and armored personnel carriers in recent days.
The latest Turkish shelling in northern Syria followed Sunday’s suicide bombing of a Kurdish wedding in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep, which killed more than 50 people. Turkish officials have blamed IS for the attack.
Turkey’s fight against Kurdish groups linked to the banned PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), as well as the IS group has added another layer of complexity to the Syrian conflict and has met with severe criticism from opponents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
While Turkey regards the Turkish PKK and its Syrian allies as terrorist entities, the USA and other Western nations views the Kurds as the most effective fighters in the war against the IS group.
The developments put the U.S.’s only clear proxy in Syria, the SDF, and its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, Turkey, on track for a confrontation over Jarablus, though the SDF official, Nasser Haj Mansour, would not comment on whether the SDF would send fighters to the town. Rebel sources say they have been mobilizing in Turkey, ready to cross into Jarablus.
The leader of the newly declared “Jarablus military council”, set with the aim of mounting its own campaign to seize Jarablus with SDF support, was assassinated on Monday, the Observatory said. They know that the Syrian Kurds have been carving out what is a blueprint for a state in northern Syria and for Ankara, that is unacceptable. One of them exploded in the garden of a house, but no one was hurt.
Turkish media are reporting the latest artillery exchanges are in response to mortar fire from across the border. No one was hurt by the rockets.
A video obtained by The Associated Press showed air raids, shelling and firing on the complex, which was taken over by al-Qaida-affiliated fighters earlier this month.
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Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said in emailed comments on Tuesday that Russian Federation and the Syrian government will announce “the first 48-hour humanitarian break in hostilities” in Aleppo as soon as they receive an official request from the United Nations envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura.
