Security sources quoted by Turkish television said a small contingent of special forces travelled a few kilometres into Syria to secure the area before a possible larger ground operation.
Advertisement
Abdulkadir Selvi, a well-connected columnist for the Hürriyet newspaper, said the Turkey-backed offensive could begin at any moment.
Turkish state news agency Anadolu said that the operation began at 4 a.m. local time.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey is ready to provide support of all kinds for the Jarablus operation to liberate the town from Daesh.
Ankara is also concerned about the growing power of US -backed Syrian Kurdish forces, who it says are linked to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
Tanks were also reportedly sent to the Turkish border town of Karkamis in preparation for a potential land assault.
Turkey has launched a fierce cross- border artillery assault on Isis positions in Syria days after Binali Yildirim, the prime minister, promised it would take a more assertive role in the conflict.
On Tuesday evening Turkish authorities ordered residents to evacuate the Turkish border town of Karkamis that lies opposite of the IS-controlled Syrian town of Jarabulus, television reported.
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. Turkey said the shelling of Daesh-controlled areas was in response to mortar fire from Jarablus, which landed in the town of Karkamis in Gaziantep Province.
Turkey had vowed on Monday to “completely cleanse” Islamic State militants from its border region after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people at a Kurdish wedding in southeastern city of Gaziantep.
An unnamed senior United States official in Washington told BBC News before the start of the Turkish operation that it was “partly to create a buffer against the possibility of the Kurds moving forward”.
Daesh is an Arabic name for Islamic state, while PYD refers to the USA -backed Syrian Kurdish fighters. Ankara worries Syrian Kurdish advances in Syria against Islamic State will embolden Kurdish insurgents in Turkey. The U.S. has embedded some 300 special forces operators with the SDF, according to the government.
Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are preparing an offensive to capture the Syrian town of Jarablus from the so-called Islamic State group. The mayor of hard-hit Amatrice said: “The town isn’t here anymore”.
The launch of the operation comes the day US Vice President Joe Biden is due in Ankara to meet Turkey’s leadership, with agreeing a unified strategy on Syria set to be a crucial issue.
Jarablus, the last stretch of border territory held by Isil, is its only remaining gateway to Turkey and the outside world. The Kurds say two agents of the Turkish intelligence were captured by the Jarabulus Military Council and are being interrogated.
The latest developments have thrust the town of Jarablus into center stage in the ongoing Syrian civil war.
Advertisement
The Syrian government and the Kurds agreed on a ceasefire on Tuesday, six days after the clashes erupted.
