ISTANBUL/KARKAMIS, Turkey, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Turkish special forces units and jets supported by warplanes from the US -led coalition launched an operation in northern Syria on Wednesday to wipe out Islamic State militants along the border with Turkey, Turkish officials said.
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“Our main goal is to clear Jarablus of the IS terrorist group militants”, Isik said.
The BBC’s Mark Lowen, who is on the Turkish-Syrian border, says that getting the U.S. to demand the SDF withdraw was a major diplomatic victory for Turkey, which has long felt that the Americans have prioritised collaboration with the Kurds in Syria over supporting their North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally.
The launch of the operation comes as US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Ankara to meet Mr Erdogan, with agreeing a unified strategy on Syria set to be a crucial issue. The United States is asking for evidence against the cleric and asking that Turkey allow the extradition process to take its course.
But Turkey’s targeting of the Syrian Kurds could put it on track for a confrontation with US military operations in Syria.
Biden reassured Turkey that Washington had told the Kurdish fighters under no circumstances to cross west of the Euphrates River or face the total loss of American support. At a press conference with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, Biden reiterated the importance of the partnership with Kurdish Peshmerga in defeating IS but publically acknowledged there should be a limit to the YPG’s advances.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the so-called Operation Euphrates Shield had expelled IS from the Syrian town of Jarabulus, and pro-Ankara rebels reported the jihadists had retreated south to the town of Al-Bab.
Turkey’s US -backed military incursion in Syria will continue until Syrian Kurdish YPG militia fighters return east of the Euphrates river, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday.
Syrian rebel militias – backed by Turkish tanks and United States air strikes – retook control of the Syrian town of Jarabulus on the Turkish border on Wednesday, rebel groups and an NGO said. It’s unclear exactly what role the Syrian fighters played in the lightning-fast battle, which was launched from the Turkish side of the border and included Turkish troops, tanks and planes.
“We will do what is necessary for Turkey”, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
Wednesday, Turkey’s president said his country’s military operation into northern Syria would target both ISIS and Kurdish fighters of the YPG, calling both groups terrorist organizations.
The town, which lies on the western bank of the Euphrates River where it crosses from Turkey into Syria, is one of the last important Daesh-held towns between Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria.
With the backing of USA airstrikes, Turkish forces secured the border town of Jarablus on western side of the Euphrates river.
Tensions had flared across the Syria-Turkey border on Tuesday following rocket fire from Jarabulus which landed inside Turkey.
In retaliation, mortar rounds were fired from Jarablus, hitting the Turkish town of Karkamis, which has been evacuated along with six other towns along the border.
A Turkish military source was more cautious, saying an initial 50-60 Syrian rebels had entered Jarablus and were checking the town for pockets of Islamic State fighters. Turkish officials have blamed IS for the attack.
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The capture of Jarablus serves as a major blow to ISIS, the group also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh, as the city functioned as a funnel for foreign fighters and supplies leading from Turkey into Syria, The Washington Post reports.
