Channels

Turkish forces

Turkish military, US-led coalition launch major operation in northern Syria

Following recent rise in terror attacks in Turkey, including a suicide bombing at a wedding that killed 54 people, Turkish ground and air forces, in cooperation with US-led coalition, have launched an offensive against ISIS stronghold.

ISTANBUL -- Turkish Special Forces units and jets, supported by warplanes from the US-led coalition, launched an operation in northern Syria to wipe out ISIS militants along the Turkey-Syria border, Turkish officials said.

 

 

The Turkish army began firing artillery rounds into the Syrian border town of Jarablus around 1:00am GMT, while Turkish and US warplanes struck Islamic State targets with airstrikes as part of the operation, Turkish military sources said.

 

Photo: Reuters (Photo: Reuters)
Photo: Reuters

 

White and grey plumes of smoke rose from atop hills in northern Syria, Turkey's CNN Turk television showed, in footage broadcast live from the Turkish town of Karkamis across the border from Jarablus. The sounds of artillery fire were clearly audible.

 

Turkish military sources said a ground incursion has yet to start, but a group of Turkish Special Forces had entered Syria under cover of Turkish and US-led coalition jets and Turkish artillery, which has struck more than 60 targets.

 

"The aim of the operation is to ensure border security and Syria's territorial integrity while supporting the US-led coalition against ISIS," one military source said, adding work to open a passage for ground forces was underway.

 

Turkey had vowed on Monday to "completely cleanse" ISIS militants from its border region after a suicide bomber suspected of belonging to the group killed 54 people at a Kurdish wedding in southeastern city of Gaziantep.

 

Turkish air and artillery strikes against ISIS

Turkish air and artillery strikes against ISIS

סגורסגור

שליחה לחבר

 הקלידו את הקוד המוצג
תמונה חדשה

שלח
הסרטון נשלח לחברך

סגורסגור

הטמעת הסרטון באתר שלך

 קוד להטמעה:

 

Turkey is also concerned about the growing influence of Syrian Kurdish militant groups along its border, where they have captured large areas of territory since the start of the Syrian war in 2011. Ankara sees them as tied to the Kurdish militants fighting an insurgency in Turkey.

 

At least nine mortar shells from Jarablus had landed into Turkish border town of Karkamis and nearby on Tuesday, forcing many residents to flee the town, a Reuters witness said.

 

The Syria operation also came as Syrian rebels backed by Turkey had said they were in the final stages of preparing an assault from Turkish territory on Jarablus, aiming to preempt a potential attempt by Syrian Kurdish YPG militia to take it.

 

Pre-empting Kurdish Forces

 

The Kurdish YPG militia, a critical part of the US-backed campaign against ISIS, took near complete control of Hasaka on Tuesday. The group already controls swathes of northern Syria where Kurdish groups have established de facto autonomy since the start of the Syria war.

 

Their growing influence has alarmed Ankara, which is fighting its own insurgency against militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, who officials blame for an escalation of attacks in the southeast of Turkey.

 

Ankara is focused on preventing the YPG or its allies from building on recent advances against ISIS by capturing Jarablus. The US-backed Syria Democratic Forces alliance (SDF), including the YPG, captured the city of Manbij, just south of Jarablus, from ISIS earlier this month.

 

Photo: AFP (Photo: AFP)
Photo: AFP

 

Turkey is still in shock after a failed July coup by rogue solders who tried to overthrow President Tayyip Erdoğan and the government, killing 240 people and triggering a purge of suspected coup supporters in the army and civil service.

 

Angered by a perceived lack of Western sympathy over the coup, Turkey has chilled ties with Washington and the European Union while ending a diplomatic row with Russia and proposing more military cooperation with Moscow in fighting ISIS in Syria.

 

Those growing ties between Ankara and Moscow are worrying Turkey's Western allies.

 

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said this week that northern Syria should not become the domain of one group and that a "secure zone", an internationally policed buffer area Turkey proposed in vain in the past, should be reconsidered.

 

A Syrian rebel with one of the Turkey-backed groups said that fighters were waiting for the signal to enter Jarablus and a second rebel said around 1,500 fighters were now gathered at a location in Turkey to take part.

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.24.16, 09:13
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment