A Turkish army convoy drive from the border back to their base in Karkamis on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern Gaziantep province, Turkey, August 27, 2016.
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The Kurds, backed by U.S. air power, began to push the group back in 2014, taking most of the border land. So Turkey’s action against SDF-allied forces puts it odds with a fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member, adding a further twist to Syria’s complex war that began in 2011 with an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and has drawn in regional states and world powers.
On Saturday, one Turkish soldier was said to have been killed by Kurdish group attack near Jarablus. The group claimed to have captured two Kurdish fighters.
Turkish forces backed by tanks clashed with pro-Kurdish fighters in northern Syria Saturday as Ankara presses a four-day offensive aimed at driving both Islamic State (IS) jihadists and Kurdish militia from its border.
“We will give every support to efforts to cleanse Daesh (ISIL) from Syria and Iraq”.
The Turkish-backed militants seized Jarablus from Daesh in the operation, which was backed by United States and Turkish fighter jets. “And, if necessary, we will not flinch from taking on similar responsibilities in other areas”.
Stopping the SDF advance was the main target of the Turkish military campaign in northern Syria.
At the Gaziantep rally, Erdogan told thousands of flag-waving supporters that “operations against terrorist organisations will continue until the end”.
Erdogan΄s comments on Sunday came as Turkish forces pushed forward with their offensive against IS and Kurdish militants in Syria, killing dozens of people.
But the Turkish army said it had killed 25 Kurdish “terrorists” from Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Syria’s YPG, state-run Anadolu news agency said.
In a statement Saturday, Kurdish forces accused Ankara of seeking to “expand its occupation” inside Syria.
USA support for Turkey has left some Syrian Kurds feeling betrayed.
Turkish-backed fighters will move south of Jarablus, toward Manbij and beyond, he said.
Turkey’s coming into conflict with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) or their Arab allies could further complicate its military campaign. Other groups which are part of the SDF vowed to support them, calling on the U.S-led coalition to explain the Turkish attacks on allied forces.
The Kurdish Democratic Union Party condemned the attack on the village.
The monitor also said at least four Kurdish fighters had been killed and 15 injured in Turkish bombardment of the two areas.
It is estimated that the rocket was sacked at the tank by Kurdish rebels.
Syrian warplanes renewed their bombing of the besieged al-Waer neighborhood in the central city of Homs. The district’s hospital was bombed and taken out of operation earlier this month. Pro-government Addounia TV said nine government soldiers abducted in Daraya were freed Saturday as part of the deal, in which the rebels handed over control of the area in exchange for safe passage out.
The Syrian government and its Russian ally are the only ones operating helicopters over Aleppo.
The neighborhood, home to almost 75,000 people, has been under siege since March and has been one area that U.N agencies have reported hard to access.
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In Syria’s northwest, fighting continued to rage between Syrian government forces and rebels in the battered city of Aleppo, in spite of tentative plans for a 48-hour ceasefire.
