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US Defense Secretary Calls On Turkey Not To Target Syria Rebels

But the Kurdish fighters are backed by the U.S. They work together with American special forces, and we’ve seen them up close stripping away territory from ISIS.

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Turkish forces and allied factions of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) forced Isil out of the Syrian border city of Jarablus last week and have since pounded neighbouring villages held by Kurdish-led, US-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF). In the following days, Syrian rebels of the US -backed Free Syrian Army have swept southward and westward to target the Islamic State but have mostly clashed with Kurdish-aligned fighters.

The military said the militants were killed in the area of Jarablus, a Syrian town on the border with Turkey. The group said that the rebels had seized 21 villages in the past four days and that the Turkish assaults had killed 40 civilians and wounded 70.

That has put Ankara at odds with Washington and adds to tensions when Turkey is still reeling from last month’s failed coup, which it says Washington was too slow to condemn.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu once again emphasized that the Kurdish militia would continue to be targeted “until it moves east of the Euphrates River”.

The United States and Turkey have called on the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, to pull back to the east side of the Euphrates, in accordance with USA assurances given to the Turks, and Cook said this pullback has “largely occurred”.

The Jarablus Military Council, which is part of the SDF, said its fighters will withdraw to areas south of the Sajour River, a tributary of the Euphrates. But Turkey and its proxies say they have not kept their promise.

The more they fight each other, the longer it will take them to combat ISIS?. Turkey is a vital North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, and the Kurdish fighters have played a critical role in rolling back the Islamic State in Syria’s five-year-old civil war.

White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said further Turkish targeting of the SDF, which also includes Arab fighters, would undermine efforts to forge a “united front” against Islamic State.

“We’ve called on both sides not to fight one another, not to fight each other”, Carter said.

Even as it supports Turkey’s demands for a Kurdish pullback, the United States has been careful not to alienate the SDF.

“We want to make clear that we find these clashes ± in areas where ISIL is not located – unacceptable and a source of deep concern”, said Brett McGurk, U.S special envoy for the fight against Islamic State, using an acronym for the jihadis.

At least 35 civilians died south of Jarabulus died as a result of the Turkish military operation, the Syrian ministry recalled, condemning the “repeated crimes” by the Turkish army.

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“We declare the withdrawal of our forces to south, to the Sajour River, to preserve the lives of civilians and so that they (Turks and their allies) don’t have any justification to continue shelling civilians”, the council said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan  AFP