One Turkish soldier was killed in an August 27 rocket attack that Ankara blamed on the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
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His comments came two weeks after Turkey launched an ambitious operation inside Syria, sending tanks and special forces to back up Syrian opposition fighters and cleanse its frontier from IS jihadists and Kurdish militia.
The incursion began on August 24, days after a suicide bomber said to be linked to Islamic State killed at least 54 people at a wedding in the border city of Gaziantep. One of the wounded soldiers died despite efforts to save him, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency.
The London-based monitoring group said “rebels and Islamist factions backed by Turkish tanks and warplanes” had taken villages on the border “after IS withdrew from them, ending IS’s presence. on the border”.
The military also said the Free Syrian Army, a loose-knit rebel force backed by Turkey, had taken six more villages, also located in Islamic State-held areas. 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.
“What will be done now will depend on coordination with coalition powers and the support they will provide”, he said, adding an improvement in relations with Russian Federation had “eased Turkey’s hand” operationally.
But their removal from the border nonetheless marks a symbolically important moment in the war against the militants, who had long relied on their access to Turkey for supplies. What is less clear is how deep into Syria the 90km, FSA-held buffer zone that Ankara has created along the border, west of the Euphrates river, will extend.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, “Our border must be completely cleansed of Daesh”. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the Turkish troops.
Washington regards the YPG as effective forces on the ground in the fight against the IS.
“He also ensured ongoing USA support for the SDF in their fight against ISIL”.
Turkey’s recent intervention in the north has exposed major rifts and encouraged anti-Kurdish activity, Cafarella said in emails to The Associated Press.
Turkey, which distrusts the Kurdish-led forces due to their links with banned Kurdish rebels operating on its own territory, feared that the capture of Minbij would lead to the Kurds advancing further west and linking up with an enclave they control in the far northwest of Syria.
“We need to show we are present in the region”, said Erdogan.
Also on Sunday, Syrian government forces put rebel-held districts in the east of Aleppo under siege once again, monitors said.
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Mr Erdogan has repeatedly said that Turkey’s allies should not be making a distinction between IS and the YPG as both groups pose a threat to Turkey.
