Share

Turkish bombardment kills 20 civilians in Syria conflict

At least one soldier was killed and three others wounded on Saturday, Turkish security sources said.

Advertisement

Islamic State has controlled territory along the Syrian border since 2013.

At least 20 civilians have been killed in strikes in northern Syria as part of a Turkish campaign that started in the area this week, a monitoring group reports.

The FSA took control of three villages near Jarabulus and another two near Cobanbey on the fourth day of Operation Euphrates Shield launched by Turkey this week to cleanse DAESH from areas of northern Syria.

The toll was confirmed by a Turkish official, without giving further details.

Turkish military sources said the rocket was sacked from territory held by the Kurdish YPG. Rebels linked to the Kurdish Worker’s Party, PKK, have been fighting for autonomy inside Turkey for decades, and a two-year cease-fire fell apart last year.

Anadolu said that the Turkish army responded to the rocket attack by shelling PYD targets in Syria, without giving further details.

One of the villages to change hands was Amarneh, where clashes erupted for the first time between Turkish forces backed by tanks and pro-Kurdish fighters on Saturday. He also said Turkish-backed rebels were pushing west against IS.

Anadolu agency reported that the army had carried out strikes against a weapons arsenal and command post belonging to “terror groups“.

In comments televised by CNN Turk, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus referred to Turkey’s fight against “terrorist groups operating in Marea-Jarablus line”, an area running along the border between Bab al-Salama and the town of Jarablus.

The village of al-Amarna is some 10 km (6 miles) south of Jarablus, a town captured from Islamic State by the Turkey-backed rebels this week.

On Saturday, the Syrian rebels said they have seized a number of villages south of Jarablus from IS militants and Kurdish forces.

The U.S. supported Turkey’s call for the Kurdish forces to move back, and Kurdish officials said they withdrew the YPG forces from Manbij.

Ankara says that the YPG has failed to stick to a promise made by its U.S. allies that the militia would move back east across the Euphrates following the seizure of the town of Manbij from Daesh earlier this month.

The escalation against the neighborhood comes after the evacuation of Daraya, a Damascus suburb, following a deal struck with the government after a grueling bombing campaign and a tight siege. The gunmen and their families headed to the northern rebel-controlled Idlib province. “There isn’t a single armed man there”, a Syrian military source told AFP.

Some 700 gunmen and 4,000 civilians were evacuated.

Advertisement

Much of the heaviest fighting this summer has focused on second city Aleppo, which is roughly divided between rebel forces and President Bashar al-Assad’s troops.

Kurdish fighters belonging to the People's Protection Units put a YPG flag on the door of the central prison in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh