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One Turkish soldier was killed in Syria

It is estimated that the rocket was sacked at the tank by Kurdish rebels. Turkish ambulances return from the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016.

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The campaign marked the first outright military intervention by the Turkish army in the quagmire of the Syrian war.

Also Sunday, government warplanes renewed their air campaign against the besieged neighborhood of al-Waer in the central city of Homs. It has been besieged for months with only intermittent worldwide aid deliveries getting through.

There are 2 comments on the Yahoo! story from Saturday, titled Turkish soldier killed in Syria attack, Kurdish militia blamed.

The Anadolu Agency says two Turkish tanks in the Syrian town of Jarablus came under rocket attack Saturday by Kurdish militants.

A source within northern Syria’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region confirmed the clashes between local fighters and Turkey’s army which has launched an incursion to expel jihadists from the border region. The Observatory said Turkish jets hit sites north of Manbij.

The declaration comes a day after the evacuation of almost 5,000 residents and fighters from the suburb began.

Aleppo has been caught in a bloody circle of violence, with rebels and government forces each promising to unite the divided city.

Turkey’s leadership has made clear that its offensive is also aimed at holding back the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which has led the fight against IS in the area.

Turkish planes bombarded positions south of the town, in what one group allied with Kurdish rebels called a “dangerous escalation”.

The Jarablus Military Council, an affiliate of the SDF, said their fighters were targeted, and described the attack as an “unprecedented and risky escalation”.

At the same time, he doesn’t deny that his fighters have battled US-backed Kurdish militias, which, Turkey insists, must withdraw east of the Euphrates River.

Turkey’s military said Sunday its warplanes killed 25 Kurdish “terrorists” and destroyed five buildings used by the fighters in response to attacks on advancing Turkish-backed rebels in the Jarablus area.

Turkey’s military did not specify what the air strikes hit, saying only that “terror groups” were targeted south of the village of Jarablus, where the clashes later ensued.

Manbij, on the west bank of the Euphrates River, was captured from Islamic State (IS) militants earlier in August by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, including the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, after a 10-week USA -backed offensive.

At least 20 civilians were killed on Sunday in Turkish shelling of a border town in Syria, a monitor group reported. Minutes later, Mr Khandakani said another barrel bomb was dropped, injuring an ambulance driver, and hampering rescue efforts. The group blamed Russian and Syrian joint military operations room for the use of such weapons in violation of worldwide law.

The rebels said they were forced to give up the town, which was one of the first to rise up against the government, accusing Damascus of using “starve or surrender” tactics.

After Kurdish-led forces this month seized Minbij in northern Syria from Islamic State, the last major town on the border under the extremists’ control was Jarabulus, and a race developed between Turkey and the Kurds over its control.

The Jarablus Military Council says the airstrikes Saturday on their bases in Amarneh village marked an “unprecedented and risky escalation” and came after Turkish artillery shelled the positions the day before.

Turkish-backed fighters will move south of Jarablus, toward Manbij and beyond, he said.

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But most fighting so far has appeared to be with rebels aligned to the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a broad grouping that includes the YPG, rather than Isis.

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