The Jarablus Military Council, an affiliate of the SDF, said their fighters were targeted, and described the attack as an unprecedented and unsafe escalation.
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The SDF is largely dominated by the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or the YPG, but also includes some Arabs.
Turkish security sources said warplanes and artillery had hit YPG sites south of Jarablus and towards Manbij, a city captured by the SDF this month in a USA -backed operation.
BEIRUT (AP) – Turkey-backed Syrian rebels seized a number of villages and towns from Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria on Sunday amid Turkish airstrikes and shelling that killed at least 35 people, mostly civilians, according to rebels and a monitoring group.
Sunday’s operations took Turkey deeper inside Syria, into an area where the Kurdish forces that control much of the border had begun to expand.
Hurriyet said that the Turkish armed forces had been given an order to “strike immediately” should the YPG be seen to make any move towards Jarabulus.
At least one soldier was killed and three others wounded on Saturday, Turkish security sources said.
Turkish forces carried out their first air strikes on pro-Kurdish positions yesterday as part of what Ankara is calling “Operation Euphrates Shield”. In general, those U.S. special operations forces have close contact with their Turkish counterparts, and they rely on Turkey for their rear supply lines, according to people familiar with the situation.
ANHA, the news agency of the Kurdish semi-autonomous areas, said Beir Khoussa has “reportedly lost all its residents”.
The Turkish army said it was taking all the measures it could to avoid any civilian deaths in Syria.
In another attack, five civilian village guards were wounded in Siirt province after their van hit an improvised explosive device on a road, Anadolu said, blaming PKK for the blast.
Turkey has sent tanks across the Syrian border following weeks of deadly attacks by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or the PKK, and IS.
Karkamis, Turkey: Turkey’s incursion into Syria is deepening tensions between two major US-backed groups, potentially setting up a conflict that could undermine Washington’s efforts to eradicate Islamic State’s presence in Syria.
Turkish tanks were reported to be continuing southward after the villages fell, with their next targets the metro area around Manbij, with the Kurdish YPG and its allies captured, in a US-backed offensive that lasted over two months.
“Why did Salih Muslim and the YPG get upset by our operation against [ISIS]?” he asked.
Turkish President Erodgan declared Turkey will go after Kurdish militias with the same energy as ISIL.
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Global powers have been pushing for 48-hour humanitarian ceasefires in the embattled city and UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has urged warring parties to announce by today whether they will commit to a pause in the fighting.
