The boom of artillery rounds was audible as advancing Turkish tanks fired. The town lies on the western bank of the Euphrates River at the Turkish border in a pocket controlled by the IS group.
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This latest explosive turn in the tangle of shifting alliances and conflicts among the global powers intervening in Syria threatens to bring Turkey into direct conflict with Washington’s chief proxy force in northern Syria, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which is the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
In a statement, the Turkish government said that the operation is “aimed at clearing the district of Jarabulus” from ISIS.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters that the Turkish air and ground offensive in a key Syrian border town was “in keeping with the goals and aims of the anti-IS coalition”.
Yildirim, the Turkish Prime Minister, urged the United States to review its relationship with the YPG and the PYD. He use the Arabic language acronym for IS.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said this week that northern Syria should not become the domain of one group and that a “secure zone”, an internationally policed buffer area Turkey proposed in the past, should be reconsidered.
IS militants withdrew apparently without a fight, retreating to the IS-held town of al-Bab further south.
Turkish authorities evacuated residents from the Turkish border town of Karkamis and six other villages as a precaution after the operation in Jarablus, the head of Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey, Efkan Ala, said. It says Turkish warplanes and artillery were also pressing ahead with their attacks against IS targets.
Another commander estimated up to 50 percent of the town was now under the control of the Turkish-backed rebels.
The state-run Anadolu Agency, citing unnamed military officials, said tanks crossed into Syria but didn’t provide details.
Turkey had vowed on Monday to “completely cleanse” DAESH from its border region after a suicide bomber suspected of having links to the group killed 54 people in southeastern city of Gaziantep.
It said the Turkish aim of entering Jarablus was not to fight the Islamic State (IS) terrorists, and that the move was another manifestation of terrorism, as Turkey is substituting one terror group with another.
Erdogan, addressing groups that have targeted Turkey, says: “You will not succeed”.
Syrian rebels backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes entered one of Islamic State’s last strongholds on the Turkish-Syrian border on Wednesday, in Turkey’s first major US -backed incursion into its southern neighbour. The agency said Turkish tanks can now be seen inside Syria and an intensive bombardment can be heard.
The airstrikes were the first by Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member, in Syria since November, when its fighter jets shot down a Russian warplane that had strayed into Turkish airspace, leading to a collapse of relations with Moscow that lasted until a rapprochement in July.
Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said his country wants the YPG to return east of Syria’s Euphrates River.
Turkey is also aiming to contain expansion by Syria’s Kurds, who are also backed by the USA and have used the fight against IS and the chaos of the civil war to seize almost the entire stretch of the border with Turkey in northern Syria.
The movements have come at a critical juncture for Turkey in Syria’s five-and-a-half-year war, with signs growing it is on the verge of a landmark policy shift. It is known that, except for Saudi Arabia, no Arab country has been an active player in the events taking place in Syria.
He and Turkish leaders are also likely to discuss the request to extradite US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey has blamed for encouraging last month’s coup attempt. The United States is asking for evidence against the cleric and asking that Turkey allow the extradition process to take its course.
Ankara is also concerned about the growing power of US -backed Syrian Kurdish forces, who it says are linked to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
The operation was launched hours before Vice President Joe Biden was due in Ankara for talks that include developments in Syria.
The PYD believes that Turkey has launched its operation to prevent the Kurds from retaking it from IS, Salam Ali, PYD’s representative in Moscow, told RIA Novosti.
Cavusoglu said the Turkish Armed Forces’ activities were continuing “without a hitch”, adding: “We are working together with the coalition regarding air support”. “Until this threat is removed and the terror threat on our border disappears”.
Plumes of smoke rose from the hills around Jarablus, visible from the Turkish town of Karkamis across the border.
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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. NTV called it an “intruder mission” meant for “pinpoint operations” against IS in Jarablus.
