The spokesman from the rebels’ Sultan Murad Division said that the next phase of the operation would be to advance southward toward Al-Bab, the town where Turkish military officials believe Islamic State fighters may have fallen back and are holing up.
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A wall along the border between Turkey and Syria is pictured near the southeastern town of Deliosman in Kilis province, Turkey, August 29, 2016.
The Turkish military said in a statement that the rebels, mainly Syrian Arabs and Turkmen fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, took charge of the frontier between Azaz and Jarablus after seizing 20 villages from IS fighters.
But it remains unclear if the Syrian rebels backed by Turkey will proceed further south to take Al-Bab from IS jihadists and then Raqa itself, or to what extent the operation has USA support.
Top diplomats from the United States and Russian Federation yesterday failed to reach a deal to provide aid to ravaged civilians in Aleppo, and at least partially halt bombardments from Syria and Russian Federation, which began an aerial campaign in support of the Syrian government last September.
Turkey also says the YPG is a sister organisation of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) with whom a two-year ceasefire collapsed last year.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Sunday defended his country’s intervention in neighboring Syria, pointing to their long shared border.
Ankara wants worldwide support to take control of a rectangle of territory stretching about 40 km into Syria, creating a buffer between two Kurdish-held cantons to the east and west and against Islamic State to the south. Notably, none of the attacks went after territory seized by Turkey and its allies, which over the weekend took materially ISIS’ entire border region between Syria and Turkey.
While Turkey is a member of the US-led anti-ISIL coalition, the country has been accused of not taking the ISIL threat seriously and fighters crossed into ISIL territory easily from Turkish border towns. “The IS has been attacking Kurds on the Syrian border, and Turkey tolerates these attacks”.
The military said two Turkey-backed Syrian rebels were killed and two wounded rebels were also evacuated.
Obama said after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Sunday that the two leaders had discussed a peaceful transition of power in Syria.
“Turkey’s fight against all terror organisations including Daesh and YPG will continue with determination”, he said, referring to the Islamic State and the main Syrian Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units. “Now Jarabulus residents, almost 100,000 of them, have settled down in the city”, he said during a press conference after a meeting at the G20 Hangzhou Summit in China.
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“It is our wish that a terror corridor not be formed across our southern border”, Mr Erdogan said.
