And Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavosoglu says his country “will provide any necessary contribution to cleanse Daesh from our neighbors Iraq and Syria”. “We have communicated as much” to Turkey, said Army Col. Steve Warren, MacFarland’s spokesman at the time.
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Erdogan says Wednesday’s operation was in response to the “threat posed by terror groups like Daesh and the PYD”, referring to a US -backed Syrian Kurdish group that has been battling the Islamic State. “Fighting terrorism on Syrian territory from any side should have been coordinated with Syrian government”, the Foreign Ministry said.
At least nine mortar shells from Jarablus landed in Karkamis and nearby on Tuesday, forcing many residents to flee, a Reuters witness said.
Turkey says the YPG is linked to its own Kurdish insurgents, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, who have been blamed for a string of deadly attacks in the country since a ceasefire crumbled past year.
Biden was speaking during a visit to Turkey.
Turkey regards the PYD, and by association the YPG, as terrorist organizations linked to the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party.
Biden’s visit was meant to allay widespread suspicions in Turkey that the U.S. may have been involved in the failed coup attempt, and also to gauge how Erdogan’s recent overtures to Russian Federation would affect U.S. -Turkey relations.
Ahmad al-Khatib, a Syrian opposition activist embedded with the rebels, said some 1,500 opposition fighters were involved. That’s what the United States’ promised.
Fighters from the powerful and ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham brigade are also present, he said and confirmed Anadolu’s report that the rebels seized the IS-held village of Kaklijeh near Jarablus. The Kurds object to the operation, believing it to be a ploy to prevent Kurdish militias from retaking the town. It’s the last major town held by ISIS on the Syrian-Turkish border.
In recent weeks, the YPG – which the US has bolstered with airstrikes and special forces support as its primary anti-Islamic State ground force in Syria – routed Islamic State from Manbij, roughly 19 miles south of Jarablus.
Turkish state media, meanwhile, say the rebels were about to enter a Syrian village leading to Jarablus. The private NTV television said as many as 20 tanks crossed the border and that clashes were underway. NTV called it an “intruder mission” meant for “pinpoint operations” against IS in Jarablus.
The operation began at 4 a.m. (0100 GMT), with Turkish artillery launching intense cross-border fire on the town of Jarablus, followed by Turkish warplanes bombing IS targets in the town, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
It was the first time warplanes from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey have struck in Syria since November, when Turkey downed a Russian jet near the border, and the first significant incursion by Turkish Special Forces since a brief operation to relocate the tomb of Suleyman Shah, a revered Ottoman figure, in February 2015.
It was not immediately clear if any Turkish or Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces crossed the border to take part in the operation.
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The news agency said the operation aims to clear Turkey’s border of “terror organizations” and increase border security, as well as “prioritize and support” Syria’s territorial integrity. But as it is known the extradition of Gulen, who is accused of involvement in the July 15 military coup attempt in Turkey, will not be so relevant for Turkey and the U.S. amid the military operations in Syria.
