Syrian rebels backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes entered one of Islamic State’s last strongholds on the Turkish-Syrian border on Wednesday, in Turkey’s first major US -backed incursion into its southern neighbor. But the minister said two Syrian rebels had been killed.
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(The Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units via AP, File).
On Thursday, the Turkish lira began trading at 2.9470 against the US dollar, up from 2.9485 at Wednesday’s close as all emerging market currencies depreciated against greenback with the expectation of further hawkish comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s speech on Friday. Turkey’s campaign is aimed as much at containing Kurdish advances as pushing Islamic State, which has bombed Turkish cities, away from its frontiers.
He said 450 members of the Turkish military had been on the ground on the first day of the offensive but this number could rise to 15,000. It is not possible to independently verify the toll.
Jarabulus, a small town on the west bank of the Euphrates a couple of kilometres (miles) south of the border, had been held by IS jihadists since the summer of 2013.
Ankara’s hostility to the YPG puts it at loggerheads with its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, the United States, which works with the group on the ground in the fight against IS.
During a visit to the Turkish capital on Wednesday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pledged the PYD would retreat or the U.S. would sever ties with the group, which is called a extremist organization by Turkey.
Ankara views the YPG as an extension of Kurdish militants who have fought a three-decade insurgency on its own soil, putting it at odds with Washington, which sees the group as an ally in the fight against Daesh.
“If this withdrawal doesn’t happen, Turkey has every right to intervene”, Isik added.
But the minister said there was as yet no sign of the withdrawal. Turkey’s military operation will continue until the area across the border is cleared of all “terrorists”, including Kurdish fighters, he said.
He said there should be no separate Kurdish entity in northern Syria and the country should remain united.
Kurdish militia fighters would not receive US support if they failed to pull back east of the Euphrates as promised, he said.
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Television pictures showed the Syrian fighters walking into an apparently deserted and abandoned Jarabulus unchallenged and newspapers published pictures showing that the rebels even had time to take selfies along the way.
