Turkey has said its campaign in Syria is targeting Islamic State and preventing Kurdish forces extending their territory in north Syria. The FSA has gained full control of Jarablus district, part of Aleppo province in northern Syria, following “Operation Euphrates Shield” launched by the Turkish Armed Forces and an worldwide anti-ISIL coalition.
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The Anadolu Agency says two Turkish tanks in the Syrian town of Jarablus came under rocket attack Saturday by Kurdish militants.
Manbij and Jarablus lie to the west of the Euphrates river, an area of northern Syria which Turkey and the United States have told the Kurdish YPG forces to withdraw from.
The Observatory said government forces on Sunday resumed shelling and air strikes on the rebel-held Waer district of Homs city, killing three people and wounding another 20.
Ankara said its raids had killed 25 Kurdish “terrorists” and that the army was doing everything it could to avoid civilian casualties.
The president also repeated that he would approve reinstituting the death penalty if parliament backed it, an issue that has put it odds with the European Union, a bloc Turkey has long aspired to join.
However, Ankara fears that SDF’s territorial gains would boost Kurdish efforts to create an independent state on Turkey’s doorstep. Now their conflict could expand into new areas, as Turkey’s incursion transforms Syria’s military landscape.
Two barrel bombs struck minutes apart in a rebel-held part of Aleppo city, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group. “But in the bloody 5-year-old conflict, replete with many power players and varying loyalties, it was unclear whether the latest airstrikes targeted ISIS or its other foes – Syrian Kurdish fighters”. The Turkish “Euphrates Shield” operation aims to drive pro-Kurd forces out of the border area and across the Euphrates.
A rocket attack on a Turkish tank has killed one soldier and injured three others close to the northern Syrian town of Jarablus. Turkey has frequently been targeted in attacks by Islamic State.
The spokesman was responding to comments from regional security sources that YPG fighters appear to be reinforcing Manbij, captured this month from Islamic State, with weapons and personnel.
On Saturday, the Syrian rebels said they have seized a number of villages south of Jarablus from IS militants and Kurdish forces.
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Turkey, which is also battling Kurdish insurgents on its own soil, sent tanks and troops into Syria on Wednesday to support its Syrian rebel allies. It has ordered the YPG, which makes up the bulk of the USA -backed Syria Democratic Forces and has been one of the most effective opponents of IS, to withdraw to the east bank of the Euphrates River, which crosses the border at Jarablus.
