Saif Abu Bakr, the commander of a battalion of Syrian rebels inside Jarabulus, said Turkey planned to take Kurdish-held Manbij and push on to the city of al-Bab, 80km south of the border.
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Turkish news agency DHA reported that at least 10 Kurdish militants were killed and two Turkish soldiers wounded Sunday during clashes that erupted in the Semdinli district of Turkey’s southeastern Hakkari province near the Turkey-Iraq border.
Days later, Ankara launched the two-pronged Syria operation with the stated aim of clearing the border area of both IS and the Kurdish fighters.
The clash between Turkey and Kurdish forces is not the only mixed allegiance that the United States finds itself locked in at present as the Obama administration continues to provide arms and support to the so-called “moderate” rebel opposition to the Assad regime while engaging in bombing of al-Nusra Front (formerly al-Qaeda) terrorists – the only catch is that the rebels and al-Nusra Front have joined forces under the umbrella group The Army of Conquest.
The militants fled the town without putting up a fight. The Turkish-backed forces first seized the Syrian border town of Jarablus from Daesh militants before pushing south into areas held by Kurdish-aligned militias.
Ankara is deeply suspicious of the Syrian Kurdish militia that dominates the US -backed Syria Democratic Forces, viewing it as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in southeastern Turkey.
On Sunday, pro-Turkey Syrian rebels of the USA -backed Free Syrian Army said they had wrested 10 villages from Kurdish control, while seizing four villages from the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS. Rebels posted pictures from inside the village.
Ankara said its raids had killed 25 Kurdish “terrorists” and that the army was doing everything it could to avoid civilian casualties.
The U.K. -based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce overnight fighting left at least 20 civilians killed in Turkish airstrikes on the village of Jub al-Kousa. It was unclear whether the Turks and the monitoring group were referring to the same incident. The U.S. considers Turkey a crucial ally in the fight against the Islamic State. In general, those U.S. special operations forces have close contact with their Turkish counterparts, and they rely on Turkey for their rear supply lines, according to people familiar with the situation.
Cavusoglu said the ethnic composition of the area around the city of Manbij west of the Euphrates – captured by the YPG from IS earlier this month – was largely Arab. They say the Kurds broke a pledge to move their forces east of the Euphrates River, which senior American officials also demanded, and are pressing for more terrain. What is clear, though, is that its SDF allies have not. At least 20 to 25 Turkish airstrikes have hit areas south of Jarabulus since Saturday, he said. Turkish leaders have vowed to drive both IS and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, away from the border. Turkey’s incursion last week pre-empted the Kurds from seizing the town.
Turkey sees the Kurdish YPG in Syria as an extension of the local Kurdish guerrilla group the PKK, which has been leading an insurgency in Turkey since late 1970s in demand of Kurdish rights and increased local authority in Kurdish regions.
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Turkey has long accused the YPG of being linked to the outlawed PKK in the southeast of the country.
