The U.S. touted the operation as a success, but Ankara saw it as another step towards the linking of Kurdish-controlled areas along the Syrian-Turkish border; the YPG holds sway over a 170-mile swath of land extending from Syria’s northeastern tip to the town of Kobani as well as part of Aleppo province.
Advertisement
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the military operation aims to prevent threats from “terror” groups, including the Islamic State and a US -backed Syrian Kurdish militia affiliated with Turkey’s outlawed Kurdish rebels. Ankara views the PYD as an extension of Kurdish militants fighting an insurgency on its own soil, putting it at odds with Washington, which sees the group as an ally in the fight against Daesh.
“(Wednesday’s operation) started in the north of Syria against terror groups which constantly threaten our country, like (ISIS) and the PYD”, Erdogan said, referring to a Syrian Kurdish opposition political party.
Biden’s visit comes at a hard time for ties between the two North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies – Turkey is demanding that Washington quickly extradite a USA -based cleric blamed for orchestrating last month’s failed coup while the United States is asking for evidence against the cleric and that Turkey allow the extradition process to take its course.
Turkey launched a cross-border operation in Syria against the DAESH terrorist organisation at 01:000 GMT on Wednesday. He said the shelling was hitting Islamic State, not Kurdish forces.
The Turkish army began firing artillery rounds into Jarablus at around 0100 GMT and Turkish and US warplanes pounded Daesh targets with air strikes. “In moving in this way, they (Turkish forces) are also preventing the YPG moving into those areas”, the professor said.
The operation comes days after a suspected IS bombing at a wedding in southeast Turkey killed at least 54 people.
A Syrian rebel with one of the Turkey-backed groups said the fighters were waiting for the signal to enter Jarablus and a second rebel said around 1,500 fighters were now gathered at a location in Turkey to take part.
Tuncalp said Turkey had long declared its red line for the advance of the Syrian Kurdish group was the west of the Euphrates River.
Speaking at a press conference in Ankara on Wednesday, Biden says Kurdish forces “must move back across the Euphrates River”.
A Turkish army tank drives toward Syria in the Turkish border city of Karkamis, in the southern region of Gaziantep, August 24, 2016.
Turkish military sources said the air strikes had hit 12 Daesh targets, while artillery fire hit 70 targets. While the troops were working to help open a corridor on the border, Turkey hasn’t begun a ground operation, the network said, citing military sources it didn’t name.
“That was really unacceptable for Turkey and was additional motivation to get more involved in that part of Syria”.
Saleh Muslim, head of the Kurdish PYD, wrote in a tweet that Turkey was entering a “quagmire” in Syria and faced defeat there like ISIS.
“Fighting terrorism on Syrian territory from any side should have been coordinated with Syrian government and the Syrian. army that has been fighting in these battles for five years”, the ministry said.
Ankara is also concerned about the growing power of USA -backed Syrian Kurdish forces, who it says are linked to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey. The U.S. says it has embedded some 300 special forces with the SDF, and British special forces have also been spotted advising the group.
“We don’t want a direct clash between those forces and the Turks”, the official said.
It issued a statement welcoming “the support of Turkey and the global coalition for the military operation in Jarabulus”, in which “the rebels are carrying out the combat operations”. Turkish tanks also moved into Syria as the offensive gathered momentum early Wednesday, the news agency said.
Ankara has always called for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad as the key to ending the conflict, putting Turkey at odds with his main supporters Iran and Russian Federation.
Advertisement
Syrian-Turkish border and has been a key staging area for transporting militants in and out of Turkey.
