Turkey said 25 Kurdish militants were killed in its airstrikes and denied there were civilian casualties.
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Turkish security sources said warplanes and artillery had hit Kurdish YPG militia sites near Manbij, a city south of the frontier town of Jarablus that had been captured by Kurdish-aligned SDF this month in a US-backed operation.
Sunday’s airstrikes came on the fifth day of Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield, a military effort to improve its border security by crossing into Syria to pound Islamic State and Kurdish militant positions. Yesterday, clashes erupted for the first time between Turkish forces backed by tanks, and pro-Kurdish fighters in the town of Al-Amarneh, also south of Jarabulus.
Turkish officials have openly stated that their goal in Syria is as much about ensuring Kurdish forces do not expand the territory they already control along Turkey’s border, as it is about driving Islamic State from its strongholds.
Turkish government claims the PYD and its military wing YPG enjoy close connections with the PKK, including militant and ammunition support through underground tunnels.
YPG leaders say they have, but their units advise the Syrian Democratic Forces, and it is not clear if any remain west of the Euphrates.
Jeb el-Kussa is located 14km (9 miles) south of Jarablus and is controlled by local fighters with support from Kurdish forces.
Earlier on Sunday, Turkish shelling and air strikes killed at least 20 civilians in northern Syria, according to the SOHR.
The campaign marked the first outright military intervention of the Turkish army in the quagmire of the Syrian war.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was due to visit the city today to express condolences for last weekend’s suicide bombing there at a Kurdish wedding that left 54 dead. Both Turkey and the United States have ordered the YPG to withdraw to the east bank of the river. Both Turkey and Kurdish rebels are U.S. allies.
The increased tensions between the USA -backed Syrian rebels and Kurdish forces threaten to take resources and attention away from the campaign against the Islamic State.
The UN says it has “pre-positioned” aid to go to the city for some 80,000 people.
Human Rights Watch announced recently that it had documented the use of incendiary weapons, which burn their victims and start fires, in at least 18 different instances between June and August in rebel-held areas.
Elsewhere, the Syrian government said it now has full control of the Damascus suburb of Daraya, following the completion of a forced evacuation deal struck with the government that emptied the area of its remaining rebels and residents and ended a four-year siege and grueling bombing campaign.
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Hundreds of fighters and their families were bused north into rebel-held territory in Idlib province, with other civilians transferred to government territory near Damascus for resettlement.
