On Saturday, the YPG, the armed wing of the PKK’s Syrian affiliate Democratic Union Party (PYD), targeted a Turkish tank that was deployed in Jarablus as part of the military’s operation Euphrates Shield, which intends to clear the border region of DAESH terrorists.
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There was no immediate comment from the YPG militia, but forces aligned with the Kurdish group had said on Saturday that no Kurdish militia had been in areas being targeted by Turkish troops or its allies.
But Turkish officials have openly stated that their goal in Syria is as much about ensuring Kurdish forces do not extend territory they already control along Turkey’s border, as it is about driving Islamic State from its strongholds. Turkish security sources said warplanes and artillery had hit Kurdish YPG militia sites near Manbij, a city south of the frontier town of Jarablus that had been captured by Kurdish-aligned SDF this month in a US -backed operation.
Turkey has been shelling Kurdish militias in northern Syria along the Turkish border for months. Other civilians were escorted to shelters in government-controlled suburbs of Damascus.
The rebels say they have captured at least nine towns and villages, including Jarabulus, from IS and Kurdish forces since Wednesday.
Ankara wants to force the Kurds to withdraw to the east of Euphrates River, stopping short of establishing a corridor to link two Kurdish-held areas in northwestern Syria, the BBC said. Control of Daraya is a boost to Assad’s forces and increases security to the capital, his seat of power. Mohammed Khandakani, a hospital volunteer, said one of the injured told him a barrel bomb was dropped as people paid their condolences for children killed Thursday in an airstrike that left 11 children dead in the same neighborhood.
“All possible measures are being taken to prevent harm to the civilian population living in the area”, the army said, quoted by Anadolu. Most fighting so far has appeared to be with rebels aligned to the Kurdish-backed SDF rather than Islamic State.
The UN has stopped officially tracking the death toll in Syria.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the airstrikes.
The clashes underscore Ankara’s determination to push back Kurdish forces from along its borders, and curb their ambitions to form a contiguous entity in northern Syria.
The Turkish-backed militants seized Jarablus from Daesh in the operation, which was backed by USA and Turkish fighter jets.
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