In the Turkey’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir late on August 27, PKK fighters launched four rocket attacks on a military air base used by both Turkish and US forces.
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Syria activists say at least 15 civilians have been killed when suspected government helicopters dropped barrel bombs on a wake for children killed in earlier airstrikes in rebel-held Aleppo.
Turkey’s military says 25 PKK/PYD terrorists were “neutralized” in northern Syria in an air strike on Sunday, Anadolu reported.
On Wednesday, a group of the FSA accompanied by Turkish tanks and special forces crossed the borders from Turkey into Syria, capturing Jarablus from the Islamic State (IS) group.
The operation cut the road before the Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the allied SDF could take that city, as it was the Kurdish groups’ next target, following a series of successful operations against the IS in northern Syria near the Turkish borders.
At least five buses carrying fighters and their families arrived yesterday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Turkey is a leading backer of the rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The Britain-based Observatory said the bombardment targeted an area south of the former IS border stronghold of Jarabulus, which Turkish-led forces captured on the first day of the incursion.
Turkish airstrikes and artillery attacks in Syria have killed at least 35 civilians and wounded dozens more on the fifth day of Turkey’s cross-border campaign against Islamic State (Isis) and Kurdish forces, according to a monitoring group.
The Turkish side lost a soldier, the first fatality in their camp, to a rocket that hit a tack on Saturday.
One Turkish soldier was heavily wounded in the clashes. Turkish officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The operation, labeled Euphrates Shield, is also aimed at pushing back USA -allied Kurdish forces.
However, Turkey’s offensive has so far focused mostly on targeting forces allied to the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition that includes YPG, an Observatory source said.
So Turkey’s action against SDF-allied forces puts it odds with a fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member, adding a further twist to Syria’s complex war that began in 2011 with an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and has drawn in regional states and world powers.
Aleppo has been caught in a bloody circle of violence, with rebels and government forces each promising to unite the divided city.
Global powers have been pushing for 48-hour humanitarian ceasefires in the embattled city and UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has urged warring parties to announce by today whether they will commit to a pause in the fighting. It has said that the operation will go on until there is no more terrorist threat to the country.
Al-Waer is the last rebel-held area in Homs, Syria’s third largest city.
It also comes after the evacuation of Daraya, a Damascus suburb, following a deal struck with the government after a grueling bombing campaign and a tight siege.
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The Syrian army said it was in complete control of the town, from which roughly 8,000 civilians were due to be evacuated.
