Last week, Turkey sent troops and warplanes across the border to help Syrian rebels capture Jarablus.
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A U.S. military spokesman had expressed hopes on Tuesday that, rather than see Turkey pursue Kurdish fighters, “all parties involved are going to stop shooting at each other and focus” on IS.
Separately, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised European Union states for their response to a failed coup in the country last month.
Turkish military officials say Turkish jets have struck four buildings in parts of northern Syria held by the Islamic State group, destroying the structures and killing the “terrorists” inside.
The Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG), which dominates the SDF, says its forces have withdrawn, and that the Turkish action against the group was a “pretext” for occupying Syria.
The statement came after United States officials said that Turkish-backed Syrian rebels and Kurdish forces had agreed on a temporary pause in fighting in northern Syria.
Since then, the Turkish army with its allies have pushed further south, seizing a string of villages in areas controlled by militias loyal to the Kurdish-backed SDF, which drove Islamic State out of the city of Manbij this month with US help.
Turkey has been fighting a Kurdish insurgency in its south-east for decades and fears Kurdish gains in northern Syria will fuel Kurdish separatism at home.
“Authorities at the Faysh Khabur border crossing between Syria and Iraq received the three bodies under the supervision of staff members from the US Consulate in Erbil”, a Peshmerga officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the attack, speaking of victims without providing details. The spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said a cease-fire was “out of the question”.
French President Francois Hollande meanwhile said he understood Turkey’s need to defend itself but that targeting Kurdish forces which were battling jihadists could further inflame the five-year-old Syrian conflict.
“We have reached a temporary ceasefire between the Jarablus Military Council and the occupying Turkish army in the Jarablus area under the supervision of the global coalition”, he said on Twitter.
Vice President Joe Biden said last week during a visit to Turkey that the Kurdish forces must withdraw or risk losing US support.
The YPG is also a key component of the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF], which groups diverse factions battling the terrorists. Erdogan will discuss the issue during the G-20 summit in China, he said.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday that “operations will continue until all terrorist elements have been neutralised, until all threats to our borders, our lands and our citizens are completely over”.
ISIS conducted a suicide bombing against Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels in a village west of Jarablus, said ISIS news agency Amaq.
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He reiterated Turkish calls that Washington has to live up to its assurances that the Syrian Kurdish forces withdraw east of the Euphrates and that the pullout immediately takes place.
