Turkish shelling and air strikes killed at least 35 civilians in Syria today, the fifth day of an incursion against Islamic State group jihadists and Kurdish militia, a monitor said.
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Turkey-backed Syrian rebels captured two villages from forces allied to the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The self-proclaimed Kurdish authorities in northern Syria said in a statement that the local fighters backed by Kurdish forces “destroyed two tanks and killed its crews” near the village of Al-Amarneh.
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.
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Turkey sees the PYD and YPG groups – which have links to Kurdish rebels in southeast Turkey – as terror groups and wants to keep them from taking control of the border on the Syrian side.
The Turkish military support enabled the Syrian rebels of capturing Jarablus from the hands of the Islamic State (IS) group.
“For now, our focus is on ISIS”, said Issa, the commander of the Sultan Murad brigade.
Turkey views the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, as closely linked to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. Turkish forces had responded with artillery, it said.
Turkish air strikes and artillery attacks have killed at least 40 people, mostly civilians, and wounded dozens more in a single attack, according to a group monitoring the Syrian war and rebels.
Turkish military sources told Reuters that two F-16 fighter jets bombarded a site controlled by the YPG militia, which is a significant part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The administration’s media office said the rebels were fighting alongside the Turkish tanks, and Kurdish forces had no role in the fighting.
Rebels backed by Turkey made major gains Sunday in northern Syria, expelling Kurdish-led forces from towns and villages as part of a determined campaign by Ankara to push the militants east of the Euphrates River.
In Syria’s northwest, fighting continued to rage between Syrian government forces and rebels in the battered city of Aleppo, in spite of tentative plans for a 48-hour ceasefire.
Also on Saturday, the Syrian government said it had retaken control of the town of Darayya, near the capital Damascus, after the last rebels left under a deal ending a four-year siege.
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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that his nation would continue its “operations against terrorist organisations” and repeated his pledge that he would approve reinstituting the death penalty if parliament backed it. Turkey has frequently been targeted in attacks by Islamic State.
