Turkish tanks have crossed into Syria under a major operation to clear so-called Islamic State from a border town, military sources have said.
Advertisement
Tensions had flared across the Syria-Turkey border the previous day, with Turkish forces pounding militants with artillery strikes following rocket fire from the Syrian town of Jarablus.
Turkish tank units and Syrian rebels backed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member crossed into northern Syria to push Daesh out of the border town of Jarablus, military sources said. While the troops were working to help open a corridor for Syrian rebel forces on the border, Turkey hasn’t begun a ground operation, the network said, citing military officials it didn’t identify.
Blamed on ISIS, that attack killed 54 people – the deadliest in a long string of blasts across Turkey this year.
Operations by Turkish Armed Forces, which have been actively fighting DAESH, have significantly contributed to ongoing efforts of US-backed global coalition against the terror group. A Syrian rebel with one of the Turkey-backed groups said earlier on Wednesday around 1,500 fighters had been gathered at a location in Turkey to take part.
Fighters from the Syrian Kurd YPG militia – the military wing of the PYD – led the battle to drive IS out of the strategic crossroads town of Manbij earlier this month.
The US vice-president, Joe Biden, was due to arrive in Ankara on Wednesday morning, hours after the launch of the operation.
Turkish tanks have approached the Syrian border and fired on targets, according to reports. That would be the first time that Turkish warplanes participated since November, when Turkey downed a Russian jet near the border.
In recent days Turkey has increased security measures on its border with Syria, deploying tanks and armoured personnel carriers.
The Turkish army began firing artillery rounds into the Syrian border town of Jarablus around 1:00am GMT, while Turkish and USA warplanes struck Islamic State targets with airstrikes as part of the operation, Turkish military sources said.
“What we have said, since the beginning, is that having Jarablus or any other city held by IS is unacceptable”, he said.
Turkish military, US -led coalition launch operation to sweep IS from Syria town was posted in World of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on August 24, 2016 and was last updated on August 24, 2016.
There were no reported casualties but the local authorities ordered residents to evacuate the town.
A Turkish media report says a small number of Turkish special forces have crossed into Syria as part of a Turkish operation to rid a Syrian border town of Islamic State group militants.
Erdogan said the move was aimed at “putting an end” to problems on the border.
Shortly after 800 GMT (11 am locally) AFP journalists saw a dozen Turkish tanks cross the border into Syrian territory.
The operation comes as Syrian rebels prepare to start an assault out from Turkish land.
The military operation is focusing on the IS-held Syrian border town of Jarablus and the surrounding area.
In recent weeks, the YPG – which the US has bolstered with airstrikes and special forces support as its primary anti-Islamic State ground force in Syria – routed Islamic State from Manbij, roughly 19 miles south of Jarablus.
In Syria, Turkey is concerned about the growing power of USA -backed Syrian Kurdish forces, who it says are linked to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey. It is the first time Ankara’s ground forces have ventured into Syria, with the exception of a brief operation early past year to rescue the tomb of an ancestor of the founder of the Ottoman empire.
Turkey’s longtime position has been that President Bashar al-Assad must be ousted in Syria as a condition for peace.
Ankara fears the YPG aims to create an autonomous Kurdish entity on Syrian soil, which would encourage Turkey’s own Kurdish population to seek separation as well.
Advertisement
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim admitted this week which he was among the “celebrities” and indicated he could play a part in a interim leaders.
