Islamic State, which once controlled hundreds of miles of territory along the Turkish border and used it to bring in foreign fighters and supplies, now only rules a 13-mile stretch of the frontier.
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The town, which shares a border with the city of Azaz controlled by opposition forces, has frequently changed hands between the Free Syrian Army and Daesh.
Syrian civilians, with Turkish Army tanks in the background, walk through the Turkish border as they are pictured from a village in Kilis province, Turkey, September 3, 2016.
Monitors said the presence of so-called Islamic State (IS) on the border had been ended.
A Turkish tank on its way to the Syrian border. The YPG has been among the most effective partners on the ground in the USA -led fight against IS.
According to ARA News sources, McGurk visited coalition forces and SDF officials, and the meeting was planned before Turkey launched the Jarablus operation.
But it lost most of its border territory to Kurdish-led Syrian forces backed by US-led airstrikes who forced it from parts of northeastern Syria after defeating it in the battle for the border town of Kobane in 2015. It remains to be seen whether the Obama administration will choose the YPG, the PKK’s Syrian franchise, over Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally that happens to be one of the world’s largest economies.
After the Kurds success in Manbij, they said they wanted to advance and link their other two “cantons” in northern Syria, Kobane and Afrin. The city has been contested since the summer of 2012.
While the United States and Europe also regard the PKK as a terrorist group, Washington sees YPG as a separate entity and an effective client in the fight against ISIS in Syria.
Operating with support from Russian Federation and Iran, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad intends to recapture all of Aleppo from the rebel fighters.
The Observatory confirmed these gains.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said that only “25 kilometres was left for the pro Turkey rebels to control the border area between al-Rai and Jarabulus”. “The whole areas are under complete siege”.
These Turkish incursions mark a new phase in Operation Euphrates Shield, a campaign launched last month to improve security and clear the Sunni terror group from the border region.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim made the announcement about Ankara’s military successes in a televised speech on Sunday.
That, he said, refers to “protecting the territorial integrity of Syria, preventing the dissolution of Syria, keeping all ethnic groups together, ending conflict and forming a government in which all Syrian people take part”.
Ironically, Turkey’s biggest problem in northern Syria is the United States.
Moreover, there are unconfirmed claims that US special forces have been deployed to northern Manbij in an effort to prevent clashes between the Turkish-backed forces and the YPG.
Turkish tanks entered northern Syria on Saturday, joining rebel fighters and expanding in a push against the Islamic State that began last week.
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