President Obama will meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday in China on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit, with Syria high on the agenda, top aide Ben Rhodes announced Monday, stressing the need “to stay united”.
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The border town of Jarablus was taken by the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA).
Turkish forces pressed on with a two-pronged operation inside Syria against Islamic State (IS) jihadists and the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), shelling over a dozen targets.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says the United States is trying to “de-conflict” U.S. – backed actions against the Islamic State by Turkey and by the American-backed Syrian Kurdish rebels known as the Syrian Defense Forces.
The operation is focused on the Turkey-Syria border where Turkey aims to improve security and rid the area of DAESH and stop the YPG’s advancement in the region.
In a series of strongly-worded Tweets this afternoon (29 August), the U.S. special envoy to the coalition Brett McGurk, quoting from a Defense Department (DOD) briefing, said: “DOD: Monitoring reports of airstrikes & clashes south of #Jarabuls b/w Turkish forces, some opposition groups, & units affiliated with #SDF”.
“Uncoordinated operations and maneuvers only provide room for ISIL to find sanctuary and continue planning attacks against Turkey, the SDF, the United States, and our partners around the world”, the statement said. Accordingly, we call on all armed actors to stand down and take appropriate measures to deconflict & open channels of communication.
If it seizes that crucial swathe of territory, it will be able to control most of the Syrian border with Turkey which would increase Ankara’s concerns that a PKK-affiliated entity is getting an upper hand in northern Syria.
Turkey’s president has said his country will press ahead with its military operation in Syria, despite the USA expressing “deep concern”.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Turkey-backed rebels have captured 21 towns and villages near Jarablus from the Kurdish-dominated SDF.
Turkey yesterday warned it would carry out more strikes on a Syrian Kurdish militia if it failed to retreat beyond the Euphrates River, as Washington condemned their weekend clashes as “unacceptable”.
Turkish forces and allied factions of the rebel Free Syrian Army have forced IS fighters out of the border city of Jarablus and pounded neighboring positions held by Kurdish-led, US -backed Syria Democratic Forces.
But Kurtulmus denied Turkey was at war.
After Biden’s warning, Kurdish officials seemed to had acceded to Turkish demands and said they withdrew the YPG forces from Manbij.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke Monday, as Syrian opposition groups reported that Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have captured more towns and villages in northern Syria.
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“We declare the withdrawal of our forces to south, to the Sajour River, to preserve the lives of civilians and so that they (Turks and their allies) don’t have any justification to continue shelling civilians”, the council said. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist collective, said the rebels captured seven more villages since late Sunday.
