The operation in Jarablus, perched along Syria’s border with Turkey, was a rare high-profile operation involving fighters who went through the short-lived US train-and-equip program, which was supposed to be the Pentagon’s main vehicle for combating the Islamic State in Syria but instead became a symbol of its failure to navigate the complexities there.
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Fighters from the more moderate Free Syrian Army have been crossing into Syria from Turkey to occupy Jarablus as both Turkey and the United States hope to install them into Jarablus.
US A-10s and F-16s warplane also hit Daesh targets in Syria in support of the offensive, a U.S. official said.
Syrian rebels backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes entered one of the Islamic State group’s last strongholds on the Turkish-Syrian border Wednesday, in Turkey’s first major US -backed incursion into its neighbor. But early reports indicate that the militants fled to the nearby Islamic State stronghold of al-Bab, which is on the road to Aleppo. It comes four days after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people at a wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.
Turkey has launched a major attack to try and take the Islamic State-held Syrian town of Jarablus. The United States provided aerial surveillance for the operations and stationed Special Operations forces on the Turkish side of the border.
Pointedly, Turkey codenamed its cross-border assault “Euphrates Shield”, suggesting the aim was to keep the YPG east of the Euphrates River.
Erdogan said the operation was aimed against both Daesh and PYD – “terror groups that continuously threaten our country in northern Syria”.
But visiting US Vice President Joe Biden reassured Turkey that Washington had told the Kurdish fighters under no circumstances to cross west of the Euphrates River or face the total loss of American support.
A spokesman for the YPG Kurdish militia, Redur Xelil, denounced Turkey’s move as “blatant aggression in Syrian internal affairs”. The predominantly Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces created the council to lead the battle for Manbij, giving it an Arab and local membership to assuage Ankara’s concerns.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu added his voice Wednesday to the chorus of Turkish officials demanding that the Kurds retreat over the Euphrates – and added a not-too-subtle threat. They also hold parts of the border further west, so if they ever took control of Jarablus, they would control nearly the entire stretch.
Turkish air and artillery strikes supported the advance, with help from the US-led coalition.
Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar Assad, said it was deeply anxious by the escalation of tension after Turkey’s move.
He said: “We have made it absolutely clear.that they must go back across the river”.
Ankara says one FSA soldier was killed in the operation; there were no reported Turkish casualties.
Fighters from the powerful and ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham brigade are also present, he said.
It remains unclear whether the relatively limited Turkish military presence will expand around Jarablus, and whether the Turks will opt to push farther into Syria.
But there is little potential for friction between the Turkish forces and Assad’s troops, which are not in the immediate area.
With Syria’s civil war now in its sixth year, Turkey’s foray adds another item in a list of combatants that already includes Assad’s military and his allies – Revolutionary Guard troops from Iran and Hezbollah guerrillas from Lebanon, Russian military experts and airstrikes – Syrian rebels, Kurdish fighters and jihadi militants from around the world in the Islamic State group.
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Karam reported from Beirut.
