It leaves Washington in the tough spot of having to choose between its two of its allied forces, and is likely to divert resources from the fight against IS.
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The Turkish military said it took “all necessary measures” to protect the local civilian population.
On Friday night, the YPG said Turkey’s military had fired on a village near Kobani, about 20 miles east of Jarablus.
The United States and Turkey have both demanded that the Kurdish forces withdraw to the east bank of the Euphrates.
Turkey claimed it had “neutralized” 25 Kurdish fighters in airstrikes across the Syrian border Sunday, the latest attack in Turkey’s stepped-up campaign to retake towns from Kurdish rebels.
“For the issue of the PYD (Democratic Union Party) terror group in Syria, we have just the same determination”, he added, referring to the main pro-Kurdish party in northern Syria and its People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia. “Our operations against the separatist organization will continue without interruption”.
Turkish officials say their goal in Syria is as much about ensuring Kurdish forces do not expand the territory they already control along Turkey’s border as it is about driving ISIS from its strongholds.
The strikes came as Syrian rebels backed by Turkey clashed with fighters opposed by Ankara at the village of al-Amarna, some 10 km south of the border town of Jarablus that was seized by the Turkey-backed rebels from IS this week.
The operation was carried out under the name “Shield of the Euphrates”.
Colonel Ahmed Osman, head of the Sultan Murad rebel group, told Reuters that the Turkey-backed rebel force was “certainly heading in the direction Manbij” since YPG forces had fortified their positions rather than evacuate. YPG leaders say they have, but their units play an advisory role to the SDF and it is not clear if any of their forces remain west of the Euphrates.
A monitoring group has countered that claim, however, reporting almost 40 killed, the majority of which were civilians.
He did not identify the forces being sent to Manbij and Jarablus, but he said military councils in both cities are made up of local fighters and some Free Syrian Army rebel groups which are allied to the US -backed anti-Islamic State alliance the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). He said the bombing also targeted Amarneh village. He said 50 Turkish tanks were taking part. It also condemned what it said was global silence regarding “Turkish occupation” of Syria. An activist in the neighborhood Bebars al-Talawy said at least a dozen airstrikes were launched Sunday, killing one person.
The monitor also said at least four Kurdish fighters had been killed and 15 injured in the bombardments south of Jarabulus, the town taken from IS by Turkish-backed Arab rebels on the first day of Turkey’s incursion Wednesday. Images of doctors treating other children for their burns were posted on social media sites. The district’s hospital was bombed and made non-operational earlier this month.
The Syrian government and its Russian ally are the only ones operating helicopters over Aleppo.
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The al-Waer neighborhood of almost 75,000 people has been under siege since March and has been one area that U.N agencies have reported hard to access. An aid convoy reached the area August 25.
