The incursion was launched by Turkey from Kilis province – an area frequently targeted by Islamic State rockets – and coincided with a separate push by the Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, who seized several villages further to the east.
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In Cologne meanwhile, up to 30,000 people took part in a protest against the Turkish offensive in Syria, German news agency DPA reported, while calling for the PKK leader and one of its founders Abdullah Ocalan to be released from jail.
Euphrates Shield is Ankara’s most ambitious operation during the five-and-a-half-year Syria conflict, backed by the tanks as well as war planes and special forces providing support to rebels.
The Anadolu news agency reported Sunday that Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army rebels have cleared the area between the northern Syrian towns of Azaz and Jarablus.
Syrian state media and an opposition activist group are reporting that government forces are advancing near the northern city of Aleppo in an attempt to impose a siege on rebel-held parts of the city. The Syria Democratic Forces, which also includes Arab fighters, has taking a large swath of territory from the extremists along the border with Turkey and closed in on Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremist group’s self-styled caliphate.
Turkey’s military says its right to self-defense as well as United Nations resolutions to combat the IS group justify its Syria incursions. Airstrikes by the USA -led coalition have killed a number of the group’s most prominent founding members and leaders.
A deal in Syria being discussed by the United States and Russian Federation, which would involve a country-wide ceasefire and focus on delivering aid to embattled Aleppo, could be announced soon, Washington’s Syria envoy has said. Aleppo has been a major battlefield in Syria since 2011, with fierce fighting between rebel groups and regime forces.
Syrian government forces backed by Russian air power have been pounding Aleppo relentlessly for months now in an effort to take back the eastern part of the city, which has been in rebel hands for almost four years. Since then, government forces and their allies have been trying to recapture the area. The Observatory said the blast killed 14 people, including 11 rebels.
Ankara began an operation inside Syria on August 24, dispatching troops to battle both the Islamic State group but also Syrian Kurdish forces it accuses of “terrorism”. “We are there to protect our borders, ensure the safety of our citizens’ lives and property, and to protect the territorial integrity of Syria”, Yildirim said during a visit to the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
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But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey would not allow the group to create a “terror corridor”.
