A Turkish soldier was killed and three others were injured in a rocket attack by the USA -sponsored YPG terror group, launched against two Turkish tanks taking part in the military offensive against DAESH in the northern Syrian town of Jarablus. The Turkish Army began its operation in Northern Syria last week.
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Turkey has warned that its offensive in Syria is targeted against the Kurdish militia as well as Daesh, warning the YPG to retreat from its recent advances.
The Saturday statement, citing military sources, comes hours after Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria said Turkish airstrikes had hit their bases near Jarablus, a town seized by Turkey-backed rebels earlier this week. Another 20 were killed and 25 wounded in air strikes near the town of Al-Amarneh, it said.
John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, said on Wednesday during a visit to Turkey that the YPG should withdraw east of the Euphrates, and that a refusal to do so would mean an end to Washington’s support for the group. But the Kurdish administration said no Kurdish forces were involved.
“At least 20 civilians were killed and 50 others wounded by Turkish artillery fire and air strikes on Sunday morning at Jeb el-Kussa”, a village south of Jarabulus, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Turkey flexed its military muscle across the border in war-torn Syria this week by helping rebels retake the border town of Jarablus from ISIS, marking a decisive win for the Free Syrian Army.
US-backed Kurdish forces have also been fighting IS in Syria but Turkey fiercely opposes any move by Kurds to expand into territory lost by the jihadists.
Regarding “the PYD (Democratic Union Party) terror group in Syria, we have just the same determination”, Erdogan said, referring to the main pro-Kurdish party in northern Syria and its YPG militia.
Turkish media named the dead soldier as Ercan Celik, 28, and said a funeral for him would be held on Sunday in Gaziantep. If confirmed, it would be the first Turkish airstrikes against Kurdish allied forces on Syrian soil.
It is estimated that the rocket was sacked at the tank by Kurdish rebels. Over 400,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, the United Nations (UN)’s Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates. The U.N. said it has pre-positioned aid ready for delivery into Aleppo, to reach 80,000 people on the rebel side and some on the government side.
Russia, which backs Assad, has endorsed the proposal. Al-Waer is the last rebel-held area in Homs, Syria’s third largest city.
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.
