The Pentagon said Wednesday that relative “calm” prevailed in northeastern Syria, while Turkey was adamant that there was no deal with Washington to stop attacking the USA -backed Syrian Kurdish group that has been essential to the anti-ISIS campaign.
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Syrian Kurds battling Islamic State have heeded USA calls to vacate an area of northern Syria under Turkish assault but reserve the right to operate anywhere in the country they choose, their political leader said Thursday.
The assault on the Kurdish-led forces has sparked global concern and Washington had said on Tuesday that the two sides had agreed to a ceasefire.
The warplanes struck Arab Ezza and al-Ghundura, which lies a short distance south of the Turkish border and west of the town of Jarablus, which was the first place seized by Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces when they crossed the border on August 24 into Syria.
“I will never allow a terror corridor in our south and in Syria’s north, I want everyone to know this”, he added.
The assault on the Kurds has drawn criticism from several quarters, with the United States leading the fray. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or the PKK, which Turkey and its allies consider a terrorist organization.
The Pentagon earlier said the Turkish forces had in fact moved to the west, while Kurdish forces had moved east of the Euphrates River, in compliance with Turkish and USA authorities.
An opposition monitoring group and a news agency linked with the Islamic State group say a suicide attacker has targeted Turkish-backed rebels in northern Syria.
At least 40 people have been injured and one killed after the Turkish military opened fire on a group protesters in the Syrian border town of Kobane, local news reported on Friday.
A provincial Turkish official says security forces fired tear gas and a water cannon at some 400 protesters on the Syrian side of the border Friday, after they threw rocks at builders of the new wall.
The two leaders discussed the situation in Syria, particularly in Aleppo, and Ban “emphasized the key role of Turkey in the fight against Da’esh”, according to the statement that used the UN’s spelling for the terror group.
By Monday, Turkish forces and their rebel allies had advanced to within around 15 kilometers of Manbij, a city west of the Euphrates taken by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from IS earlier this month. He also said Turkey had sought the establishment of a “safe zone” in Syria, but said the idea had not received the backing of other world powers.
But yesterday Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik said: “Turkey is a sovereign state … a legitimate state”.
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“We continue to work very closely with our coalition partner and ally Turkey in trying to address their concerns about this situation”, spokesman Peter Cook said.
