BBC reports that a monitoring group claims at least 35 civilians and four militants are killed by a wave of Turkish strikes in the same area.
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The Turkish military is “taking every precaution and showing maximum sensitivity to ensure that civilians living in the area are not harmed”, Anadolu reported. It wasn’t possible to independently verify the Syrian casualty figures or the identities of those killed.
On Saturday, one Turkish soldier was said to have been killed by Kurdish group attack near Jarablus.
The clashes underscore the complexity of the US-led global coalition campaign to reverse IS’s territorial hold in Syria and the dangers faced in that mission, the WSJ said. It has demanded the YPG, which makes up the bulk of the SDF and has been one of the most effective USA ally in the fight against IS, withdraw to the east bank of the Euphrates River. Turkey still insists they intend to take everything west of the Euphrates away from the Kurds, and the Kurds are still preparing to defend territory the USA recently helped them capture from being overrun by the Turkish military. Both Turkey and Kurdish rebels are United States allies.
He said the government “had enough” of recent mortar attacks targeting the Karkamis district of the border province of Kilis, which ultimately provoked the launch of the Euphrates Shield operation.
Ankara wants to force the Kurds to withdraw to the east of Euphrates River, stopping short of establishing a corridor to link two Kurdish-held areas in northwestern Syria, the BBC said. A Turkish official said that heavier air strikes could come within hours.
But the USA also backs the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which have waged successful battles against the Islamic State and also seeks to depose Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Turkey, which has more than 20 million Kurds in its southern region, has long opposed any expansion of Kurdish influence near its border, fearing the threat to its territorial integrity. Social media posts from those Arab rebels said clashes were fiercest around the village of Amarneh, around 5 miles south of Jarablus. It didn’t give any more details about the location of the attack.
Syrian groups that monitor fighting and civilian death tolls reported casualties on at least two battlefronts south of Jarablus as a result of the weekend clashes.
At least 15 civilians were killed Sunday in the village of Jeb el-Kussa (Bir Qusa) near the Syrian city of Jarablus as it was targeted by Turkish forces, an SDF representative told Sputnik.
The Britain-based Observatory said the bombardmenttargeted an area south of the former IS border stronghold ofJarabulus, which Turkish-led forces captured on the first dayof the incursion.
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There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials. Conflicting news on seizing the village spread; as Free Syrian Army sources announced that FSA seized the village, sources from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced that Turkish forces and factions failed to take control of the town.
