Turkey’s defense minister says Turkish forces are securing the area around the town of Jarablus in northern Syria, a day after helping Western-backed Syrian rebels take the town from Islamic State militants. U.S. secretary of state John Kerry is due to met his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Geneva on Friday.
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At the weekend, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim for the first time acknowledged that Assad was one of the “actors” in Syria, saying he may need to remain as part of any transition.
Expectations are running high that a deal between Moscow and Washington on a joint strategy to fight Islamist extremists in Syria that could lead to a cessation of hostilities.
Ankara fears Kurdish gains in Syria will fuel an insurgency at home.
The Turkish forces opened fire at 6:00 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) after intelligence showed the YPG militants were advancing despite a promise by the USA that the Kurdish militia would retreat, Anadolu said. They can not, and will not, get American support if they do not keep that commitment.
The efficiency of Turkish military operations also marked a major boost for the Turkish army, whose reputation was tarnished by the failed July 15 coup against Mr Erdogan.
He stressed the situation on the ground was “extremely serious” with “a humanitarian disaster” and United Nations “evidence of crimes”, referring to a new United Nations report that says the Syrian government and Daesh carried out chemical attacks in 2014 and 2015.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, visiting Turkey on Wednesday, promised that the Kurds would do so, otherwise they would lose vital support from Washington.
The rebel factions have also advanced southward from Jarablus toward the city of Manbij, which was captured earlier this month from Islamic State by the US -backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance including Kurdish fighters.
The Kurdish forces’ withdrawal from Manbej, an Arab town near Turkey, came apparently against the backdrop of the recent American-Turkish reproachment, as Ankara has long expressed its deep opposition to the advance of Kurdish forces near its borders. Manbij lies west of the Eurphrates and Ankara has demanded the Kurds hand it over to Syrian rebels and withdraw.
Meanwhile, China’s military will provide training for Syrian armed forces, a spokesman for Beijing’s defence ministry said yesterday, adding it would take place on Chinese soil. Russia’s air force has been waging a devastating aerial campaign against Syrian rebels – including IS – but also targeting militia backed by Turkey.
Members of Turkish-backed Syrian Turkmen Brigades fighting in the offensive said they would no push through Isis territory towards the town own Marea, 60 miles south-west of Jarablus. “The PYD and the YPG militia should not replace Islamic State there”, Isik told Turkish broadcaster NTV.
A child waves toward Turkish troops heading to the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey, Friday, Aug. 26, 2016.
America has denied Turkish reports it was somehow behind the putsch, but Erdogan has angrily demanded it extradite US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, the plot’s alleged mastermind.
The People’s Protection Units (YPG) said the allied forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) left the town after completing the mission of liberating it from the IS.
That statement refers to an apparently separate pullout from the withdrawal that Turkey is seeking from the Kurdish forces.
At dawn tanks crossed the border, followed by pick-up trucks believed to be carrying hundreds of fighters from Turkish-backed factions of the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Later in the day, the Turkish military shelled a group of Syrian Kurdish fighters near Manbij, south of Jarablus, Turkish media said. The Syrian army and air force has been fighting the YPG in the far east of Syria in and around the city of al-Hasakah.
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Earlier this month, the Syrian Democratic Forces drove out ISIS from the Syrian city of Manbij.
