Turkey says its army shelled Islamic State targets near the border town of Jarablus in Northern Syria on Monday.
Advertisement
It was the first time warplanes from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey have struck in Syria since November, when Turkey downed a Russian jet near the border, and the first significant incursion by Turkish special forces since a brief operation to relocate the tomb of Suleyman Shah, a revered Ottoman figure, in February 2015.
The authorities also ordered residents to vacate Karkamis and the surrounding area for safety reasons after the rocket fire, although there was no indication this was linked to the impending operation.
Turkish media report that tanks and military vehicles have arrived on the border with Syria ahead of the operation.
It says the group must now be cleared from the border region, and has been bombarding targets across the border in northern Syria ahead of an expected ground attack.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said talks on military cooperation with Russian Federation in the fight against Islamic State in Syria were nearing an end.
US Vice President Joe Biden is due to visit Ankara Wednesday to meet Turkey’s leadership with agreeing a unified strategy on Syria set to be a crucial issue.
“What makes Russian Federation and many others anxious is that Turkey is still firing at Syrian territory; and there are still those who demand the establishment of some sort of safe zone in Syria, also the non-stop voices calling for ground action in Syria”.
The Dogan news agency reported that Turkish artillery fired 65 mortar shells at IS targets around Jarablus on Saturday.
Ankara is concerned about the growing power of USA -backed Syrian Kurdish forces, who it says are linked to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
Their growing sway has alarmed Turkey, which is fighting an insurgency among its own Kurdish minority.
Karkamis neighbors the Syrian town of Jarablus, where Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are preparing for an offensive to take it from Islamic State, Reuters cited a senior rebel official as saying.
Kurdish-dominated groups already control territory along most of Turkey’s border with Syria.
Turkey blames IS for a bomb attack that killed dozens of people in the south of the country at the weekend.
Ankara is focused on preventing the YPG or its allies building on recent advances against Islamic State by capturing Jarablus. The US says it has embedded some 300 special forces with the SDF.
A Syrian rebel with one of the Turkey-backed groups said the fighters were waiting for the signal to enter Jarablus and a second rebel said around 1,500 fighters were now gathered at a location in Turkey to take part.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said that there is no difference between ISIS, the PKK and the network of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, who he claims was behind the failed coup.
Advertisement
Moscow and Tehran have joint positions in the Syria conflict, with Turkey deeply opposed to Bashar al-Assad’s regime, of which Russian Federation is a major backer.
