Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks published on Wednesday by the daily Hurriyet that US President Barack Obama had floated an idea of joint action with Turkey to capture Raqqa, the Syrian city that is Islamic State’s de facto capital.
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“Obama wants to do some things jointly concerning Raqqa”, Erdogan told a group of journalists during his return flight Tuesday from the G-20 summit meeting in China, local news media reported.
State-run Anadolu News Agency quoted Gaziantep Deputy Governor Nursal Cakiroglu as saying that 250 refugees who have been living in Turkey on Wednesday declared their intention to go back to their hometown of Jarablus.
Ankara-backed fighters seized the town of Jarabulus from IS jihadists on the first day of the operation, without much resistance from the extremist group.
Daesh rockets fired from Syrian border towns posed a threat to Turkish security forces and people living in the area, and many civilians were killed as a result.
“We welcome Turkey’s increasing efforts to fight against Daesh”, Stoltenberg told Turkish broadcaster NTV, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL, also known as ISIS.
Meanwhile, Syria’s opposition set out detailed plans yesterday for the transition to a democratic state without President Bashar al-Assad ahead of talks with ministers of EU, US and regional powers in London.
A US official said that while the leaders agreed to remain focused on Islamic State, there was no specific discussion of a joint operation to seize Raqqa.
Canikli said that a 772 square kilometre (300 square mile) area had been cleared from IS fighters and was now under control of pro-Ankara fighters.
The army said the attack took place south of Al-Rai, where Turkish tanks opened a second front in their Syria operation at the weekend.
ISTANBUL (AP) – Three Turkish soldiers were killed and four were wounded in a missile attack Tuesday by the Islamic State group in northern Syria- the first Turkish casualties caused by the militants in Turkey’s two-week-old incursion into Syria.
“But at this stage we have to show our presence in the region”.
Turkey does not have the option of taking a step back on Syria or else terror groups will fill in the gap, Erdoğan added.
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Whatever happens in the triangle of US-Kurdish-Turkish relations, the Kurds have recently vowed to defend their lands in northeast Syria against the Turks by whatever means necessary, while reportedly expressing concern that US support for their cause has been on the wane lately.
