Last week, the Turkish army launched a cross-border operation with the help of the US-led coalition forces to drive out the IS terrorists from its border following the Gaziantep suicide attack that killed at least 55 persons and series of mortar attacks targeting the Karkamis district.
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“All possible measures are being taken to prevent harm to the civilian population living in the area and the maximum sensitivity is being shown on this issue”, the army said, quoted by Anadolu.
Earlier Turkish jets bombed an ammunition dump and command centre for “terror groups”, Ankara said, on the fourth day of an intervention created to clear Isis (Islamic State) from border areas and contain Kurdish expansion. They were Turkey’s first casualties since dispatching tanks and special forces units, backed by US and Turkish fighter jets, into Syria on Wednesday to oust the Islamic State militant group from the border town of Jarabulus.
The increased tensions between the USA -backed Syrian rebels and Kurdish forces threaten to take resources and attention away from the campaign against the Islamic State.
Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have already seized five villages near Jarablus from Islamic State. The militias have said no Kurdish forces are in the area.
On Sunday, Turkish forces ramped up their offensive, with Turkish warplanes and artillery pounding areas held by pro-Kurdish forces close to a town liberated from IS this week.
“We will fight against the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria’s Jarabulus, Iraq’s Bashiqa and, if it is necessary, in other places”. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Erdogan has blamed the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS. That, Turkey fears, could embolden Kurdish militants on its own soil who have been a waging a three-decade-long armed struggle for cultural and political rights and self-determination. “Our operations against terrorist organizations will continue until the end”, he told a rally of thousands of supporters on Sunday. YPG leaders say they have, but their units advise the Syrian Democratic Forces, and it is not clear if any remain west of the Euphrates. The YPG insists that it has pulled its forces back. The Observatory said Turkish jets hit sites north of Manbij.
The neighborhood came under attack Saturday, including incendiary bombs that killed two children, a brother and sister. The district’s hospital was bombed and made non-operational earlier this month. “Don’t kill innocent (people), fight ISIS”, one user posted. An aid convoy reached the area on Aug.25. Reports said the helicopters belonged to the Syrian government.
It also 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.
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The Homs Local Council appealed to the United Nations envoy to Syria to negotiate a truce for al-Waer, condemning the government’s “siege policy” that aims to force residents and local fighters to surrender.
