Turkey has been alarmed by USA support for the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People s Protection Units (YPG) militia which Ankara sees as a “terrorist” group linked to its own Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has been waging a bloody campaign against the Turkish state.
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Operation Euphrates Shield, which was launched on August 24, aims at improving security, supporting coalition forces and eliminating the terror threat along Turkey’s border using Free Syrian Army fighters backed by Turkish armor, artillery and jets.
The two killed by IS were not Turkey’s first casualties following the launch of the incursion, though they were the first fatalities at the hands of the militant group since the operation began.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that Syrian rebels backed by the military have driven out all “terrorist organisations” from a strip of Syrian land bordering Turkey.
“Our soldiers should get together and whatever needs to be done can be done”, Erdogan said, adding that Turkey and USA have been working in harmony so far in the operation against Islamic State.
Isayev predicts that Turkey’s intervention will not change the overall balance of forces between the major powers taking part in the conflict – Russian Federation and the United States. Damascus denounced the intervention as a breach of its sovereignty. “We said this would not be a problem from our perspective”.
Turkey says such a “safe zone” would help stem the flood of Syrian refugees.
Commentators believe a major reason behind Ankara’s decision to put boots on the ground in Syria was the prospect of a PYD-controlled corridor along its southern border that would eventually lead to the establishment of a Kurdish statelet.
The army initially said that two of its troops had been killed, but later added that another soldier had succumbed to his wounds.
He said there were 292 people in the first group of registered returnees, including women, children and the elderly. “God willing, the operation will succeed and we will be able to return to our homeland”, she said.
He said Turkey would have “no difficulty” with such actions.
Syria has been the hub of shifting global military and political intrigues since the start of the “civil war” in 2011.
Turkey’s intervention had the aim of driving IS forces back from its border and also halting the advance of Kurdish forces – some backed by the US. The town had changed hands multiple times during the past months in battles with the IS, Xinhua news agency reported. It said the wounded were evacuated by helicopters.
Turkey sees the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is waging an insurgency on Turkish soil, seeking autonomy for Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast region.
Mr Dibo says that, despite the U.S. support for a limited Turkish intervention and a YPG withdrawal east of the Euphrates, the YPG attacks on Isis will not be reduced.
The army said on Tuesday that the ISIL attack took place in the Wuquf village, south of al-Rai, where Turkish tanks opened a second front in their Syria operation at the weekend.
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Erdogan said he had agreed with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in China to do “what is necessary” to drive IS out of Raqa.
