Last week Turkish-backed Syrian rebels and Turkish tanks entered Syria and seized the border town of Jarablus from Islamic State militants before pushing south into areas held by Kurdish-aligned militias.
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Turkey considers the PYD and its People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia to be terror organizations, even though they are backed by Ankara’s ally the United States in the fight against Daesh (ISIL) in Syria. The YPG, however, has said its fighters have withdrawn from the targeted area.
Explosions ring out in Syrian border town of Jarablus as Turkey-backed rebel forces advance in Syria as part of an operation to wipe out Islamic State militants from the border.
It fears Kurdish fighters gaining an unbroken strip of territory along its border, which would be a huge boost to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a banned Kurdish rebel group fighting for autonomy in Turkey.
A Turkish soldier was killed by a Kurdish rocket attack late Saturday, the first such fatality in Turkey’s ground offensive dubbed Euphrates Shield that began August 24.
The group said there were injuries but did not give any further details. It leaves Washington in the tough spot of having to choose between its two of its allied forces, and is likely to divert resources from the fight against IS.
ANHA, the news agency of the Kurdish semi-autonomous areas, said the town of Beir Khoussa, around nine miles south of Jarabulus, has “reportedly lost all its residents” following the bombardments on Sunday.
“The second and final convoy of rebels and civilians came out of Daraya today”, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Rebels opposed to the Turkish intervention had earlier on Saturday denied there were Kurdish forces in the area.
“With this aggression, a new conflict period will begin in the region”, said the Jarablus Military Council, which is linked to the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The Observatory said dozens more were injured in the two strikes and the death toll was expected to rise.
The official said the project was announced a year ago.
The Syrian army said it was in complete control of the town, from which roughly 8,000 civilians were due to be evacuated.
It marks Turkey’s determination to push back Kurdish forces from along its borders and curb their ambitions to form a contiguous entity in northern Syria.
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“With this aggression, a new conflict period will begin”, they said. Meanwhile a bloody battle for the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, is ongoing. The group blamed Russian and Syrian joint military operations room for the use of such weapons in violation of global law. That suggests Turkey aims to control a long stretch of the border as part of Operation Euphrates Shield. The gunmen and their families headed to the northern rebel-controlled Idlib province.
