Obama floated the idea of joint action with Turkey to capture Raqqa during talks between the two leaders at a G20 summit in China, Erdogan said, according to Wednesday’s edition of Turkey’s Hurriyet daily.
Advertisement
Turkish military launched Operation Euphrates Shield last month, driving Isis from the Turkey-Syria border and effectively cutting off one of the group’s major supply corridors.
“Obama wants to do some things together concerning Raqqa in particular”, Erdogan told reporters, referring to Isis’ de facto capital. “We said this would not be a problem from our perspective”.
The military says the militants fired rockets at Turkish tanks during clashes on Tuesday in northern Syria. It said the wounded were evacuated by helicopters. The offensive has continued to successful seize land from Islamist control: Turkey and its rebel allies now control a 90 km stretch on the Syrian side of the border, and are pushing south.
The military said two Turkey-backed Syrian rebels were killed and two wounded rebels were also evacuated.
But it remains unclear if the Syrian rebels backed by Turkey will proceed further south to take Al-Bab from IS jihadists and then Raqa itself, or to what extent the operation has United States support.
On the fifth day of the operation, a Turkish soldier was killed in clashes with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. Ankara conducted airstrikes against IS inside Syria after that.
It said the tanks were destroyed and “a number of Turkish soldiers” killed. “We do not have an option to step back at this point”, the president said.
Turkey has suggested the high-ranking soldiers of both parties could come together and discuss the issue, and “then what is necessary will be done”, he said.
Advertisement
Turkey’s branding of PYD and YPG as terrorist groups have put it at odds with Washington, which sees the YPG as a valuable and effective ally in its fight against Islamic State in Syria.
