He said the fighters come from the US-backed Hamza brigade, as well as rebel groups fighting government forces in Aleppo, such as the Nour el-Din el Zinki brigade, the Levant Front, and Failaq Al-Sham.
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By prohibiting the Kurds from establishing an unbroken zone of influence in northern Syria, Ankara ensures that YPG fighters will be unable to form an autonomous Kurdish enclave that stretches along Turkey’s border, while also giving Turkey a zone of influence inside Syria.
Turkey is also angered by America’s support for USA -backed Kurdish forces in Syria, which it sees as a threat to its territorial integrity.
Hours after Turkish forces crossed the border into Syria, Syrian rebels reinforced by Turkish tanks took control of Jarabulus near the border and ISIS rushed to escape from the area.
The speed of the advance was stunning and stood in stark contrast to the long, grinding battles required for Kurdish forces to recapture towns from IS militants in northern Syria, such as Kobane and Manbij.
“A terrorist organisation fighting another terrorist organisation doesn’t make it innocent”, he said, adding that Islamic State had been forced out of Jarablus and that the town was now under control of the Syrian rebels.
The concern in Ankara is that the Kurds could create an autonomous area close to the border which might foster Kurdish separatism within Turkey itself, our correspondent says.
A USA defense official said that American planes were conducting airstrikes as part of the ongoing operation to drive Islamic State militants from Jarablus. United States warplanes also entered the battle, with a United States official, speaking on condition of anonymity, saying both A-10 “Warthog” ground attack aircraft and F-16 fighter jets were launching air strikes.
The statement added that Turkish tanks and armored personnel carriers crossed into Syria earlier in the morning, under the cover of US -led coalition airstrikes.
Turkey has vowed to “completely cleanse” IS from its border region, blaming the group for a bomb attack on a wedding that killed at least 54 people in Gaziantep on Saturday. Ankara considers the Kurdish YPG in Syria as a hostile force.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is due in Turkey later on Wednesday, the most senior U.S. official to visit since a failed July 15 coup shook confidence in the ability of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member to step up the fight against ISIS.
He continued by saying that the timing of the operation has nothing to do with KRG President Masoud Barzani or U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Turkey.
Officials in the capital Ankara fear that if Kurds manage to break away from northern Syria, that will ignite separatist demands in Turkey even more. “They can not, will not and under no circumstances get American support if they do not keep that commitment”.
Saleh Muslim, co-president of the PYD, tweeted after the military operation was confirmed that “Turkey is in Syrian quagmire, will be defeated as Daesh (will be)”.
A Turkish official, who declined to be named, said: “Turkey will continue operations until we are convinced that imminent threats against the country’s national security have been neutralised”.
“What we have said, since the beginning, is that having Jarablus or any other city held by ISIS is unacceptable”, he said. “This now needs to be resolved”, he said.
Turkish F-16 jets dropped bombs on ISIS targets in Jarablus, the private NTV television reported, in the first such assaults since a November crisis with Russian Federation that was sparked when the Turkish air force downed one of Moscow’s warplanes.
A dozen ISIL targets were destroyed in Wednesday’s air strikes. Turkish artillery meanwhile destroyed at least 70 ISIL targets, according to Turkish television.
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Turkey has backed rebels against Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout Syria’s civil war.
