Turkey on Wednesday launched its first major ground assault into Syria since the country’s civil war began, sending in tanks and special forces backed by US airstrikes to help Syrian rebels retake a border town from Islamic State militants. Hundreds of Syrian rebel fighters – backed by Turkish tanks, warplanes and special forces – had on Wednesday taken the town of Jarablus to end over three years of jihadi control.
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The operation to liberate Jarablus from IS fighters came less than two weeks after the USA -backed and Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces liberated the town of Manbij, another IS stronghold in the vicinity.
But Turkish defence minister Fikri Isik warned the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, who also had designs on Jarabulus, to move back east across the Euphrates or also face intervention from Turkey.
There were small-scale confrontations between Syrian rebels and IS fighters, “with IS knowing that Turkey was there to win”, Abdulrahman said.
Turkish authorities have been pressed into taking action against ISIS by the surge of suicide bombings in Turkey, as well as the terror group’s use of safe houses and “informal” financial services on Turkish soil. The Kurdish militia had moved west of the river earlier this month as part of a US-backed operation, now completed, to capture the city of Manbij from ISIL. The U.S. -led coalition fighting the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) confirmed Thursday that Kurdish forces had been asked to retreat.
Turkey had made the case more strongly to Washington over the past few months, had patched up relations with Russian Federation, and had removed some of the Turkish commanders from their posts after finding they were involved in the coup attempt, paving the way for the operation to go ahead, the official said. Turkey has repeatedly insisted that the river is a “red line” for them.
According to Turkish ministry officials, Kerry and Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke by telephone on Thursday to discuss the Turkish military operation to retake the IS-held border town of Jarablus in northern Syria.
United States diplomats have successfully maintained that dual loyalty – despite protests from Ankara – for months as the coalition has begun to recapture ground from IS group forces in Iraq and Syria.
Russia’s U.N. ambassador says there doesn’t have to be a confrontation with the United States over a report that blames the Syrian government and Islamic State militants for carrying out chemical attacks in the conflict-torn country.
The role of the Syrian Kurdish YPG has been a sticking point between North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies Turkey and the United States.
The suggestion, however, that military officers who were secretly plotting against the government all along had acted for more than a year to thwart its plans to intervene in Syria offers one possible new explanation for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s seeming reluctance to fulfill long-standing USA demands for Turkey to adopt a more active stance against the Islamic State in Syria.
The US has played a delicate balancing act with its partners in the fight against the Islamic State. Turkish officials don’t appear to be contesting that fact, and have reiterated they’re keeping the Kurds from expanding, deploying more tanks into the country.
Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway added that USA surveillance drones were monitoring the region.
The village was under rebel control on Thursday, the rebel source said.
“Here is our agreement with the USA – the PYD, which is now in Manbij, must pull back to the east of the river”, Yildirim said.
The tanks were followed by around 10 armoured vehicles.
By day break, at least 10 more Turkish tanks crossed into Syria, Turkey’s private Dogan news agency reported.
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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.
