Meanwhile more residents have left the Damascus suburb of Darayya after a deal ended a long government siege. Turkey on Wednesday sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels retake the key Islamic State-held town of Jarablus and.
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Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria say Turkish airstrikes have hit their bases near Jarablus, a town seized by Turkey-backed rebels earlier this week.
Turkey considers the PYD and its People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia to be terror organisations, even though they are backed by Ankara’s ally the United States as effective anti-jihadist fighting forces in Syria.
The Observatory said 11 buses were in Daraya to continue the evacuation. Clashes were fiercest with the Kurdish-allied forces over the village of Amarneh, eight kilometers (five miles) south of Jarablus.
The Jarablus Military Council said the airstrikes in Amarneh village marked an “unprecedented and risky escalation” after Turkish artillery shelling the day before.
“It’s the first such case since Turkish tanks entered into Syrian territory on Wednesday”, Abdel Rahman said.
Despite consistent USA calls to retreat, PYD units have been moving to the east of the Euphrates river, and the group has continued its offenses amid the conflict between Turkish-backed moderate opposition forces and Daesh terrorists. It has been besieged for months with only intermittent worldwide aid deliveries getting through. Ahmed Osman, leader of the Sultan Murad group also denied any Turkish tanks were taking part in storming the area.
Ankara says that the YPG has failed to stick to a promise made by its USA allies that the militia would move back east across the Euphrates following the seizure of the town of Manbij from ISIS earlier this month. It has ordered the YPG, which makes up the bulk of the US -backed Syria Democratic Forces and has been one of the most effective opponents of IS, to withdraw to the east bank of the Euphrates River, which crosses the border at Jarablus.
Meanwhile, the United Nations special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, appealed to the opposition to approve plans to deliver aid to rebel-held eastern Aleppo and government-held Aleppo through a government-controlled route north of Aleppo during a 48-hour humanitarian pause.
At least 15 civilians were killed in barrel bomb attacks by regime aircraft on the rebel-held Maadi district in the city’s east, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory said. Minutes later, Khandakani said another barrel bomb was dropped, injuring an ambulance driver, and hampering rescue efforts.
The declaration Saturday comes only a day after the evacuation of almost 5,000 residents and fighters from the suburb began.
Syria state TV is reporting that the evacuation of the Damascus suburb of Daraya following a deal to end a four-year siege and a grueling bombing campaign has been completed.
The Syrian government and its Russian ally are the only ones operating helicopters over Aleppo.
Around 700 gunmen are to be allowed safe passage to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib, while some 4,000 civilians will be taken to temporary shelter in government-controlled Kisweh, south of Daraya. The gunmen and their families headed to the northern rebel-controlled Idlib province.
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The rebels said they were forced to give up the town, which was one of the first to rise up against the government, accusing Damascus of using “starve or surrender” tactics.
