A Reuters reporter stated he saw six Turkish tanks which have crossed the Syrian border state and that he has witnessed intense bombing in the area.
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Saleh Moslem, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the YPG’s political wing, tweeted that Turkey was now in the “Syrian quagmire” and would be “defeated” like IS.
The operation comes four days after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people at a wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep. That has alarmed Ankara, which fears it will embolden the nation’s own restive Kurds. The intervention could undermine the war against Islamic State, he said, as “the Kurds have proven to be the most effective force on the ground”.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the entry of Turkish forces into northern Syria on Wednesday, saying any anti-terror efforts should be coordinated with the Syrian government.
The private NTV television said Turkish special forces entered Syria in what it described was an “intruder mission” to carry out “pinpoint operations” against IS as part of the mission to clear the town of Jarablus of the extremists.
The operation’s launch coincides with Vice President Joe Biden’s trip to Turkey to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The operation, which began as Vice President Biden visits Ankara, also is a bid to rein in USA -backed Kurdish militants, according to The Wall Street Journal. “Turkey’s operation is meant to prevent Kurdish forces from capitalizing on their success”, he said. On Tuesday, it said that around 500 rebels were waiting to cross into Syria.
While Iran and Russian Federation are actively engaged in the fight against the IS in Syria, Syrian Air Force attacked for the first time the positions of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Turkey considers as the Syrian wings of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in the Al-Hasakah region.
“Any party conducting a battle against terrorism on Syrian soil must do so in coordination with the Syrian government and the Syrian army who have been fighting this war for five years”.
It says: “Fighting terrorism can not be undertaken by ousting Daesh and replacing it with other terrorist organizations directly backed by Turkey”.
Turkish stocks slumped the most in three weeks, with the Borsa Istanbul 100 Index falling as much as 2.9 percent before trimming losses to trade 1.8 percent lower at 12:40 p.m.in Istanbul.
On Aug. 24 morning, the Turkish Air Force with the support of the coalition aircraft launched an operation to liberate the city of Jarabulus from the IS militants in northern Syria, near Aleppo city.
A senior USA administration official says US advisers have been working closely with Turkey on plans for the operation launched against an Islamic State-held border town.
The assault puts the U.S.in a precarious position. Earlier this month, the US -backed Syria Democratic Forces seized Manbij, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Jarablus, from Islamic State.
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“We are certain that the Syrian crisis can be settled exclusively on the firm basis of global law, through a wide intra-Syrian dialog encompassing all ethnic and religious groups, including the Kurds, on the basis of the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012, Resolution 2254 and other decisions by the UN Security Council, adopted at the initiative of the worldwide Syria Support Group”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “That they must go back across the river”, Biden said at a news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.
