Late Saturday night, Turkey’s official news agency reported that one Turkish solider had been killed and three wounded by what it said was a Kurdish rocket attack in Jarablus, near where the fighting has raged.
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Ankara has said the operation in Syria is aimed not just at IS jihadists, but also the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia.
However, Cook did not refer to the clashes between Kurdish-led forces and Turkey-backed rebels near Jarabulus, while local officials suggested that the Turkish statements that they are against any de facto “Kurdish state in Syria” clearly indicates that Turkey’s target is the Kurds, and not ISIS.
It comes after Turkey on Saturday suffered its first fatality since launching operation “Euphrates Shield” in Syria, blaming Kurdish militia in a fight for control of the border region.
The Jarablus Military Council said the airstrikes in Amarneh village marked an “unprecedented and risky escalation” after Turkish artillery shelling the day before. Other civilians were escorted to shelters in government-controlled suburbs of Damascus.
Turkey sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels capture Jarablus from the Islamic State group, and to contain Kurdish-led forces. Meanwhile a bloody battle for the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, is ongoing. The group claimed to have captured two Kurdish fighters.
Last week, the Turkish army launched a cross-border operation with the help of the US -led coalition forces to drive out the IS militants from its border following the Gaziantep suicide attack that killed 55 people and series of mortar attacks targeting the Karkamis district.
Earlier an SDF-affiliated group said Turkish airstrikes targeted its bases and civilian homes south of Jarablus.
“We are in, obviously, close communications with all of our partners on the ground involved in the fight against ISIL [ISIS], including Turkey and our partners in Syria”, he said.
The Jarablus Military Council says the airstrikes Saturday on their bases in Amarneh village marked an “unprecedented and risky escalation” and came after Turkish artillery shelled the positions the day before.
Turkey’s military said Sunday its warplanes killed 25 Kurdish “terrorists” and destroyed five buildings used by the fighters in response to attacks on advancing Turkish-backed rebels in the Jarablus area.
Turkey is part of the USA -led coalition fighting IS, but the airstrikes that began Saturday marked the first time it has targeted Kurdish-led forces in Syria.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the airstrikes.
The Syrian government and its Russian ally are the only ones operating helicopters over Aleppo.
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The militias have said there are no Kurdish forces in the area. Ankara backed Syrian rebels to gain control of Jarablus last week. The government denies it uses barrel bombs.
