In a news conference on Monday with a visiting European official, Turkish European Affairs Minister Omer Celik said: “No one has the right to tell us which terrorist organization we can fight against”.
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Turkish-backed forces pushed deeper into Syria on Monday into areas controlled by fighters aligned to the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF.
The United States has criticized as “unacceptable” the fighting between forces backed North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Turkey and US -backed pro-Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, just days after the USA and Russian Federation suggested there was no imminent ceasefire to the conflict that has killed at least a quarter of a million people.
Part of the tensions stems from USA support of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, a group which Turkey has designated as a terrorist organization.
Monitoring groups have reported dozens of civilian deaths by Turkish airstrikes.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that he will devote equal energy to combatting ISIS and the YPG.
The Observatory also reported clashes between rebels and IS fighters on the western edge of Jarablus.
It began with Turkey launching an offensive against ISIS last week, sending tanks and Syrian rebel fighters over its border and into the town of Jarablus.
Even as it supports Turkey’s demands for a Kurdish pullback, the United States has been careful not to alienate the SDF.
“Turkey can not sit and watch an attack from Syria”.
Rhodes said that while the US supported Turkey’s efforts to clear IS fighters from Jarablus and secure its border, it would oppose Turkish efforts to move south and engage in activities against the SDF.
Still, he acknowledged, some Kurds may remain to the west of the river, but these were not part of the YPG.
The Turkish-backed military campaign in northern Syria has drawn condemnation from the USA, which is supporting some Kurdish forces in the region. The region lies between two Kurdish-controlled cantons – one east of the Euphrates and the other to the west near the Mediterranean.
The group said that the rebels had seized 21 villages in the past four days and that the Turkish assaults had killed 40 civilians and wounded 70.
Ankara fears the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria would bolster Kurdish rebels across the border in southeast Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said one of the main goals of the August 24 push into Syria to take the border town of Jarabulus was to “wipe out” the YPG (People’s Protection Units), the USA -supported military wing of the PYD, or Democratic Union Party of Syrian Kurds.
The clashes came a day after a rocket attack on two Turkish tanks killed a Turkish soldier and injured three others.
Now the rebels have retaken many villages south of Jarablus, the group backed by Turkey is advancing towards the city of Manbij a YPG stronghold in northern Syria.
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“Uncoordinated actions like this really aren’t getting us further along” to defeating ISIS, he said. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist collective, said the rebels captured seven more villages since late Sunday.
