Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters expelled the Daesh group from the last strip of territory it controlled along the Syrian-Turkish border, effectively sealing the extremists’ self-styled caliphate off from the outside world, Turkey’s prime minister and and a Syrian opposition group reported.
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(Recasts with fresh fighting, updates throughout) * Government advances put rebel-held Aleppo under siege * Turkish-backed incursion drives IS from border areas * Obama says “grave differences” remain with Russian Federation on truce deal By John Davison and Roberta Rampton BEIRUT/HANGZHOU, China, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Syrian government forces and their allies again laid siege to rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Sunday, while Turkish-backed fighters drove Islamic State from all the areas along its border, in two significant but separate developments in the multi-sided conflict.
The Kurdish YPG is an effective force also fighting so-called Islamic State in Syria, but worries Turkey because fighters want their own Kurdish homeland.
It comes just one week after Turkey launched its offensive in Syria.
But much of the earlier work to push IS back from the border was done by the YPG and its allies.
The Euphrates Shield operation started on August 24 in the northern Syrian city of Jarablus when Turkish forces crossed into Syria under the pretext of targeting Islamic State positions along the border.
‘We will never allow the formation of an artificial state in the north of Syria, ‘ he told a crowd in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast.
Obama, meanwhile, sought Sunday to heal a rift with Turkey, expressing his support for Erdogan in the wake of a failed coup attempt and promising the U.S.’ help in bringing the plotters to justice.
“This is an important step forward in the fight against ISIL”, a US official said, using Washington’s acronym for Islamic State. -Russian military partnership focusing firepower on “common enemies” in Syria, Obama said.
There are still around 250,000 civilians living in the city’s rebel-held areas. The report said the Tartus-Homs highway was closed briefly.
Ahmed Othman, a commander from the pro-Turkey rebel group Sultan Murad, said: “There are no clashes, ISIL fighters flee as soon as they see us advancing, especially because we are supported by Turkish air power”.
The sides for several weeks have sought a cease-fire between Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and moderate rebels that would expand access to humanitarian aid for hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire.
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IS and the Observatory said the target was a checkpoint at Tartus’ southern entrance. The Observatory confirmed a bomb but had no casualty figures. They fired at the auto, forcing two passengers to get out and the driver to blow it up, Bittar said.
