Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday the Syria operation was aimed at securing Turkey’s southern border.
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The army said Turkey’s rebel allies had taken six more villages, located in Islamic State-held areas, adding to dozens of settlements now under the control of Turkish-backed forces.
The military says the militants fired rockets at Turkish tanks during clashes on Tuesday in northern Syria.
“The importance of the fact that Turkey’s border with Syria is now completely free of the Islamic State (IS) terrorists was emphasized in the call”, the statement added.
He told reporters: “Obama wants to do some things together concerning Raqqa in particular”. “We wouldn’t consider anything before that as formal passage”, a spokesman at the governor’s office for Gaziantep province, which lies across the border from Jarabulus, said. “Our soldiers should come together and discuss, then we will do what is necessary”, he said.
But the Turkish president was short on specifics and said any military role would depend on further talks.
“We need to show we are present in the region”, said Erdogan.
Even though both countries nominally oppose the Islamic State and President Bashar Assad of Syria, the United States places a greater priority on defeating the Islamic State.
Political analyst Alexander Mercouris has suggested Turkey is attempting to create a safe zone in northeastern Syria as a base for jihadi groups supported by Washington and Ankara. The YPG is seen as key to USA plans to recapture Raqqa, analysts say.
Three Turkish soldiers were killed and five others wounded during clashes with Daesh in northern Syria, government sources in Ankara said on Tuesday.
On 7 September, UK foreign minister Boris Johnson and the High Negotiations Committee of the Syrian Opposition (HNC) and other foreign ministers from across the world meet in London.
“If we take a step back, terror groups like Daesh, PKK, PYD or YPG will settle there”.
Turkey and the rebels also clashed for several days with Kurdish-led forces, who have been the main U.S. ally inside Syria in the war against Daesh.
Turkey, in response, said it would continue to target the Kurdish militia if it failed to retreat east of the Euphrates River.
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Russia’s criticism of Turkish military actions came for the first time, although Moscow and Ankara have recently started a process to normalise their bilateral relations, including the resumption of cooperation to fight terrorism.
