Turkish Firtina howitzers fired on IS targets as the contingent advanced, Dogan said.
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“These conflicting reports could be a further indication of mounting tension between Turkey and the U.S. about how to deal with northern Syria”, said Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Gaziantep on the Turkish side of the Syria-Turkey border.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria has been successful, with a 400-square-kilometer area cleared of Islamic State and Kurdish YPG militia forces.
The silhouette of a Daesh fighter on a rearing horse, a black flag in his hand and a sabre by his side, is among the disappearing traces of the jihadists’ grip on this Syrian border town a week after Turkish-backed rebels swept in. Yet they have also gone after anti-Assad forces supported by the United States and Britain, putting American and British special forces at risk.
The SDF and FSA have both received military assistance from the United States.
Turkey is anxious that advances by Syrian Kurdish fighters will embolden Kurdish militants in its southeast, where it has been fighting an insurgency for three decades led by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
“Starting from Jarablus, the cleansing of this region is our priority”, Kalin told a news briefing. For Turkey, the critical part, in essence, will be to maintain the gains won by Euphrates Shield in the long term, without becoming ensconced in the civil war. When they finally backed the Kurdish attack on Manbij, it took months, and was immediately followed by a Turkish invasion.
Turkey frets that seizing such a broad swathe of territory could embolden Kurdish PKK insurgents on Turkish soil.
A Syrian woman and girl sit in Jarablus in northern Syria.
“I am not against the Kurds, they are good guys, they give us cigarettes”, said Adil, adding Kurdish fighters had come within a few kilometres south of the town.
On Wednesday only the occasional thud of explosions in the distance was audible along the Turkish frontier.
Turkey’s worst fears were confirmed late in August when Kurdish forces who had ousted Isis from the town of Manbij, turned their attention towards Jarabulus, which Isis had occupied for the past two years.
Some of the intervening nations – notably Russian Federation – are both pro-Assad and anti-Islamic State. We aren’t terrorists by any definition of the word.
People in Kobane have been protesting Ankara’s wall along the city’s area, especially because it is in the Kurdish-controlled Rojava region. US officials have also said the YPG has mostly withdrawn its forces to the east of the Euphrates, a natural boundary cutting through northern Syria.
Turkey’s European Union affairs minister said some Kurdish fighters were still on the western side and called that “unacceptable”.
Iran, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, urged Turkey to quickly wrap up its campaign, calling it a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.
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The UN chief was “inspired by the strong commitment demonstrated by the Turkish people after these events, and stressed the importance to harness this energy and solidarity to build an even more solid foundation for future development and good governance in the country”, the statement said.
