Turkish troops head to the Syrian border in Karkamış, Turkey.
Advertisement
Colonel Ahmad Osman, speaking to Reuters from Jarablus, said the priority was now to advance about 70 km (40 miles) west to Marea, a town where rebels have long had a frontline with Islamic State. Turkish ambulances return from the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. Ankara backed Syrian rebels to gain control of Jarablus last week.
Syrian rebels are continuing to secure Jarabulus as more Turkish tanks have rumbled over the border to assist them.
Turkey has continued sending in tanks since Wednesday’s lighting operation to help rebels rout IS from Jarabulus. Hayyan, a doctor who runs a volunteer group in the province, refused to be identified further due to concerns for his and his family’s safety.
Russia, a staunch ally of Assad’s regime, has been backing government forces with air strikes on rebel-held areas.
Representatives for the Turkish authorities said that the objective of the military operation in Syria was to reduce the flow of migrants and deliver humanitarian aid to the population. “Moscow is [.] especially alarmed by the prospect that the situation in the conflict zone will continue to deteriorate, resulting in greater civilian losses and heightened ethnic tensions between Arabs and Kurds”, the ministry said in a statement. One soldier was killed and three wounded by what Ankara said was a Kurdish rocket attack in the city of Jarablus.
Also on Saturday, Kurdish civilians and officials protested against Turkish military vehicles that entered the Syrian border territory of Kobane city to dig trenches.
Turkish troops, backed by USA airstrikes, drones and special operations forces, launched a major offensive inside Syria Aug. 24.
The declaration comes a day after the evacuation of almost 5,000 residents and fighters from the suburb began.
Daraya was the last remaining rebel holdout in the region known as western Ghouta – and the closest to the capital.
Thousands of civilians have also left under the agreement, having endured years of constant shelling and shortages of essentials.
One Turkish soldier was killed and three others were injured in a rocket attack by the US -sponsored YPG terror group, launched against two tanks taking part in Turkey’s military offensive against Daesh in the Syrian town of Jarablus.
Will Turkey’s military incursion, which began at 4am this morning, fare any better than its past initiatives in Syria?
Later in the day, the Turkish military shelled a group of Syrian Kurdish fighters near Manbij, south of Jarablus, Turkish media said.
Amid a fence-mending visit from Vice President Biden, Erdogan’s tough rhetoric against the Kurds, a reliable and effective American partner in the fight against ISIS, appeared to force the U.S.to choose sides in the separate, and longstanding fead between its allies.
Meanwhile, the Nour Addien Zinki group, part of the FSA, said it had succeeded with the help of other factions of the FSA of capturing Amarneh after clashing with the SDF.
Turkish warplanes attacked a group allied with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), after Turkey earlier this week launched an offensive into northern Syria against Kurds and Islamic State forces.
Kozak said an open confrontation between Turkey and the Kurds in Syria would undo much of the progress made working with the Kurdish forces against IS in northern Syria.
Jan Egeland, who heads up humanitarian aid in the office of the U.N. Syria envoy, said the U.N. now awaits assurances from two rebel groups and written authorization from President Bashar Assad’s government before any aid convoys can go through to Aleppo amid an upsurge in fighting that has left the city almost surrounded by Russian-backed Syrian troops. Turkey says the Kurds must withdraw to the east of the nearby Euphrates River. Minutes later, Khandakani said another barrel bomb was dropped, injuring an ambulance driver, and hampering rescue efforts. It wanted to get rid of President Bashar al-Assad and his government and it is still there and in control of at least two thirds of the Syrian population.
Advertisement
Several militias under the SDF banner pledged support to Jarablus Military Council after it reported the Turkish bombing.
