He says “they can not – will not – under any circumstance get American support if they do not keep that commitment”. Taking over Jarablus and the Islamic State-held town of al-Bab farther south would be a significant step toward linking up border areas under Kurdish control east and west of the Euphrates River.
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However the YPG is backed by the United States in the battle against IS and has been gaining territory in northern Syria.
A senior USA administration official said US advisers have been working closely with Turkey on plans for the Jarablus operation, providing intelligence and air cover.
“Fighting terrorism on Syrian territory from any side should have been coordinated with Syrian government and the Syrian. army that has been fighting in these battles for five years”, the ministry said.
“Chasing out IS and replacing them with terrorist groups backed by Turkey is not fighting terrorism”. Daesh is the Arabic language acronym for IS.
A Turkish army tank and an armored vehicle are stationed near the border with Syria, in Karkamis, Turkey, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016.
Turkish artillery pounded Islamic State positions in the city of Jarablus, approximately 62 miles northeast of the city of Aleppo and less than 2 miles from the Turkish border, in the early morning hours on Wednesday.
A force of 1,500 Turkish-backed Syrian rebels is said to be waiting across the border to take part in the Jarablus operation. A Reuters reporter at the border counted six Turkish tanks inside Syria and witnessed intense bombardments.
Turkish counter-terror police also launched dawn raids on IS members in Istanbul today.
A senior official with Syria’s largest Kurdish group suggested Turkey will pay the price. Authorities did not disclose the number of those detained.
He stressed that the cross-border operations, which targeted ISIS and Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) fighters in northern Syria, aim to put an end to frequent attacks on Turkey’s border area. Blamed on ISIS, that attack killed 54 people – the deadliest in a long string of blasts across Turkey this year.
Russian Federation is supporting Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war and the prospect of a military coalition with Turkey is a cause for alarm for Western countries calling for the President’s removal.
He also added: “You will not silence our calls to prayer, you will not make this country kneel, you will not chain this people”.
Turkey has launched a military operation to free a Syrian town held by Islamic State, according to state media and military sources.
Turkish fighter jets – supported by US-led coalition aircraft – also struck Islamic State targets near the border town. The Britain-based group didn’t say how many fighters were involved. “At least, Erdogan refused to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, at least until the elections in Syria”, he said.
Local media also reported Turkish tanks being deployed in the vicinity of Karkamis.
Turkeys’ private NTV television says as many as 20 tanks had crossed into Syria.
“Jarablus was expected to fall soon anyway and that the Kurds would move in to take it”, he said.
The launch of the operation comes as US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Ankara to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with a unified strategy on Syria set to be a crucial issue.
The visit comes at a hard time for ties between the two North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden is visiting Turkey, in what is the highest-level USA visit to the country since a failed coup attempt last month.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a grouping of US -backed Kurdish and Arab militias fighting Islamic State, of which the YPG is a main part, have taken territory across northern Syria from the jihadist group, causing concern in Turkey.
The aim is to secure territory along its border with Syria from the ISIS threat, officials told Turkey’s semi-official Anadolu agency. The effects of one air strike on the northern outskirts Jarabulus were easily visible, sending up a cloud of black smoke and sand.
“We are working with them on that potential operation: our advisers are communicating with them on the Jarablus plan”.
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The western bank of the Euphrates was Turkey’s red line for the advance of the YPG on its border.
