But it also puts Turkey on a path toward potential confrontation with Kurdish fighters in Syria who the United States is supporting in their fight against the Islamic State group and have been the most effective force battling IS militants in northern Syria.
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The pullback was a major demand by Ankara after Turkey sent in tanks and special forces backed by USA airstrikes across the border to help Syrian rebels take a key Islamic State stronghold the previous day. Gunfire and explosions echoed around hills in the region on Thursday. There were no casualties among the Turkish troops.
“Our main goal is to clear Jarabulus of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group”.
The operation was carried out under the name “Shield of the Euphrates”. Speaking in a press conference after a meeting, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said the USA should reconsider its support for the YPG, while Biden added that Washington specifically told the group not to go west of the Euphrates River. Turkey has been deeply concerned by the advances of the Kurdish forces, fearing they aim to set up a Kurdish entity there.
Kerry stressed that the Syrian Kurdish forces “were in the process of retreating east of the Euphrates”, the officials said in reference to the Syrian Kurdish forces.
The due statement came from the country’s defense minister Fikri Isik in an interview to NTV channel on Thursday, APA reports.
“Islamic State should be completely cleansed, this is an absolute must”. “We’ll see what happens”.
Before talks can begin, though, US officials say it is imperative that Russian Federation use its influence with Syrian President Bashar Assad to halt attacks on moderate opposition forces, open humanitarian aid corridors, and concentrate any offensive action on the Islamic State group and other extremists not covered by what has become a largely ignored truce.
It was also emphasized that the fight against Daesh in Iraq and Syria will be maintained by both parties working in cooperation with each other. “Turkey will be following, moment by moment”, Isik said, adding the withdrawal was promised within a week.
“We are closely following this”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated Ankara’s calls for the Syrian Kurdish forces to leave the area west of Euphrates, warning that otherwise the Turkish forces “will take the necessary measures”.
A senior Turkish official told reporters that operations would continue until “we are convinced” that imminent threats to Turkey are neutralized.
S. -Russia understanding have fallen short virtually every month for the past five years.
This move is significant as it marks North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey’s most overt incursion into Syria.
Washington says it needs clear evidence of Gulen’s involvement and that it is a matter for the courts, a position that has sparked an outpouring of anti-Americanism from Turkey’s pro-government media.
The sound of gunfire, audible from a hill on the Turkish side of the border overlooking Jarablus, rang out early on Thursday and a plume of black smoke rose over the town.
The new contingent of tanks roared across a dirt road west of the Turkish border town of Karkamis, throwing up a cloud of dust in their wake before crossing the border, an AFP photographer said. “We also have armoured personnel carriers that could be used on the Syrian side”.
Those goals are not new, but recent developments have made achieving them even more urgent and important, according to US officials.
They are supporting a ground offensive by hundreds of Syrian rebels who on Wednesday marched into Jarabulus and a neighbouring village after meeting little resistance.
According to Syrian opposition sources, the Turkish-backed forces had advanced around 10 km south of Jarabulus on their way to the YPG-held town of Manbij.
The announcement comes a day after Turkey sent in ground forces, assisted by USA -led coalition airstrikes, into northern Syria to free a town from Islamic State militants. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the YPG, said the intervention was a “blatant aggression in Syrian internal affairs”.
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Only hours later, the rebels burst into Jarablus, posting photos from the town’s center.
