Turkey has long suspected the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, of being linked to Kurdish insurgents in its own southeast, which it labels as a terror group. Both Turkey and Kurdish rebels are USA allies. The group said there was injuries but didn’t specify.
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A Turkish soldier was killed by a Kurdish rocket attack late Saturday, the first such fatality in Turkey’s ground offensive dubbed Euphrates Shield that began August 24.
Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria say Turkish airstrikes have hit their bases near Jarablus, a town seized by Turkey-backed rebels earlier this week.
Meanwhile, a Turkish soldier was killed and three more wounded today in a rocket attack by Kurdish militia on two tanks taking part in Turkey’s military offensive in northern Syria, state media said. They posted images allegedly showing the village after it was taken, including pictures the accounts said showed Kurdish militants captured alive in the area during the battles, as well as ID cards allegedly belonging to SDF fighters.
The militias have said there are no Kurdish forces in the area. The fighting pits a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally against a USA -backed proxy that is the most effective ground force battling IS in Syria.
Jeb el-Kussa is located 14 kilometers (almost nine miles) south of Jarabulus and is controlled by fighters from the area backed by Kurdish forces.
Turkish-backed FSA fighters are now cleaning Jarabulus of mines and explosives laid by DAESH before they were driven out from the northern city. It also condemned what it said was global silence regarding “Turkish occupation” of Syria.
Turkey on Saturday sent more tanks into Syria to bolster a military offensive against jihadists and Kurdish fighters. It has demanded the YPG, which makes up the bulk of the SDF and has been one of the most effective USA ally in the fight against IS, withdraw to the east bank of the Euphrates River.
Yesterday, the first Turkish casualty in the operation was flown home from Gaziantep for burial in his home province of Duzce on the Black Sea.
Gaziantep is the city where a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a wedding party last weekend, killing 55 people.
Its military intervention has further complicated a conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people and displaced more than half the country’s population since March 2011.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a brother and sister were killed in the air strikes that left their bodies badly charred.
The operation started as an effort to push Isis out of the Syrian city of Jarabulus, but officials have been vocal about the twin aim to oust Kurdish militias the Government views as terrorists.
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The UN’s Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has urged the warring sides in Aleppo to approve safe delivery of vital supplies by Sunday. Control of Daraya is a boost to Assad’s forces and increases security to the capital, his seat of power.
