“Will be defeated as Daesh” will be.
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Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala said that Wednesday’s operation was being carried out in coordination with the US -led coalition forces.
The backing of a Syrian rebel assault on Jarablus of Turkey, to be launched from its land, can also be viewed as an effort to prevent the town falling into the control of Syrian Kurdish forces.
Troops will create a safe zone of 90 by 40 kilometers (55 by 25 miles) for refugees between the towns of Marea and Jarablus, Turkish media said. It says Turkish warplanes and artillery were also pressing ahead with their attacks against IS targets. Turkish special forces units are also operating along the border, CNN Turk reported.
The operation comes days after a suspected IS bombing at a wedding in southeast Turkey killed at least 54 people.
“The Turkish Armed Forces and the International Coalition Air Forces have launched a military operation aimed at clearing the district of Jarablus of the province of Aleppo from the terrorist organisation Daesh”, said a statement from the Turkish prime minister’s office, using another term for IS.
The move also came after a bombing Saturday night in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, that killed 54 people at a wedding celebration.
Turkey is concerned about the growing clout of the group, which it says is linked to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
“(Wednesday’s operation) started in the north of Syria against terror groups which constantly threaten our country, like (ISIS) and the PYD”, Erdogan said, referring to a Syrian Kurdish opposition political party. The Britain-based group didn’t say how many fighters were involved.
Security sources quoted by Turkish television said a small contingent of special forces travelled a few kilometres into Syria to secure the area before a possible operation.
A bus transporting alleged Syrian opposition fighters is seen as they prepare to enter Syria at the Syrian Turkish border city of Karkamis, in the southern region of Gaziantep on August 24, 2016. Jarablus, which lies on the western bank of the Euphrates River where it crosses from Turkey into Syria, is one of the last important IS-held towns standing between Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria.
In its report, Anadolu Agency, which cited unnamed government officials, did not say how many tanks had entered Syria. The private NTV television said as many as 20 tanks crossed the border and that clashes were underway.
Taking control of Jarablus and the IS-held town of al-Bab to the south would be a significant step toward linking up border areas under Kurdish control east and west of the Euphrates River.
Turkish and USA supported Turkish special forces inside Syria -led coalition air strikes, the authorities said. The United States is asking for evidence against the cleric and asking that Turkey allow the extradition process to take its course.
Kurds are a large ethnic minority in Syria, and they have been a USA ally in the fight against ISIS there, playing a major role in driving the terror group out of the northern Syrian city of Manbij earlier this month.
Wednesday’s operation puts Turkey on track for a confrontation with the Kurdish fighters in Syria.
The official made the comment in a briefing to reporters who were travelling on US Vice President Joe Biden’s plane en route to Turkey, where he is due to meet both President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım.
NTV described it as an “intruder mission” meant to carry out “pinpoint operations” against IS to clear Jarablus of the extremists.
About the operation’s duration, he says: “Until when?” Turkish officials have blamed IS for the attack.
Turkey’s and the US -backed coalition forces on Wednesday launched an operation to clear a Syrian border town from Islamic State militants, the office of the Turkish prime minister said.
The Turkish army began shelling Jarablus at about 04:00 local time (01:00 GMT), the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
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It was not immediately clear if any Turkish or Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces crossed the border to take part in the operation.
