Turkey says it has killed 25 “terrorists” in Syria, shortly after a monitoring group reported dozens of deaths on the fifth day of a Turkish military offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and Kurdish forces in northern Syria. The U.S. considers Turkey a crucial ally in the fight against the Islamic State.
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However, the Turkish offensive has so far focused on forces allied to the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition that includes the YPG, an Observatory source told Reuters.
Ankara wants to stop Kurdish forces gaining control of an unbroken swathe of Syrian territory on Turkey’s frontier, which it fears could embolden the Kurdish PKK militant group that has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.
The United States has in recent days appeared to rebalance its support for the Kurdish militias with its backing of the Syrian rebels and Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally. But Turkey is also in the midst of a delicate partial rapprochement with the Syrian government’s main ally, Russia, which is watching to see how far Turkey will go in backing the rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Speaking at a rally in Gaziantep on Sunday President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the “terrorists” are being “picked up one by one” by Turkey’s security forces.
Ankara had said it had killed 25 Kurdish “terrorists” on Sunday as it pressed on with a two-pronged operation inside Syria against the Islamic State (IS) jihadists and the YPG.
Turkey is part of the US -led coalition fighting the militants of the Islamic State group, but the airstrikes that began Saturday marked the first time it has targeted Kurdish-led forces in Syria.
Turkey on Monday said it would continue targeting a Syrian Kurdish militia in Syria if it failed to fulfil promises to retreat east of the Euphrates River, accusing the group of ethnic cleansing.
In a statement Saturday, Kurdish forces accused Ankara of seeking to “expand its occupation” inside Syria.
Shervan Derwish, a spokesman for a Kurdish-aligned military council in Manbij, said Sunday that the “battles are still ongoing”.
Turkish-backed fighters will move south of Jarablus, toward Manbij and beyond, he said.
Cavusoglu said the ethnic composition of the area around the city of Manbij west of the Euphrates – captured by the YPG from IS earlier this month – was largely Arab.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the rebels have captured 21 towns and villages near Jarablus from the USA -backed and Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces. He said 50 Turkish tanks were taking part.
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The Homs Local Council appealed to the United Nations envoy to Syria to negotiate a truce for al-Waer, condemning the government’s “siege policy” that aims to force residents and fighters to surrender. Those same US Special Forces also work with their Turkish counterparts who they rely on for rear supply lines according to Wall Street Journal sources.
