Residents of the Turkish city of Karkamis near the Syrian border began evacuating Tuesday after mortar fire hit the city, CNN Turk reports.
Two mortar rounds fired from Jarabulus hit Karkamis while three more hit the center of the Turkish border town of Kilis, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. There were no injuries reported.
Some media reported that the evacuation was ordered by authorities, however CNN Turk quoted the Karkamış mayor as saying that people were leaving voluntarily and that there was no official evacuation order.
According to the Hurriyet daily, the Turkish military fired around 60 shells at four Islamic State targets across the border in retaliation.
However, Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the "Turkish shelling in Syria aimed to prevent the advance of troops backed by Kurds from Manbij towards Jarabulus".
He told the AFP news agency that the commander of Kurdish-dominated forces headed to Jarablus, Abdel Satar al-Jader, was also "assassinated" on Monday after announcing he planned to resist the Turkish advance. There was no confirmation from Turkish sources.
Turkey regards the PYD as a terror group, although Washington sees its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia -- as the most effective fighting force against the jihadists.
Turkey on Tuesday also vowed to give full support to moves to free the Syrian town of Jarablus from the control of Islamic State jihadists as expectations grew of a major Ankara-backed offensive against the group.
Activists have said hundreds of Ankara-backed rebels were preparing an offensive against IS to seize control of Jarabulus, which lies opposite of Karkamis in Turkey.
Without confirming the operation, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu pledged to give "all kinds of support" to push the jihadists out of Jarabulus.
"We do not want Daesh (IS) to exist in Iraq and Syria," he told reporters.
In an interview with private NTV television, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Turkey saw Jarabulus "as a national security matter".
"What we have said, since the beginning, is that having Jarabulus or any other city held by IS is unacceptable," he said.
[i24news.tv]
23/8/16
-
Related:
Two mortar rounds fired from Jarabulus hit Karkamis while three more hit the center of the Turkish border town of Kilis, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. There were no injuries reported.
Some media reported that the evacuation was ordered by authorities, however CNN Turk quoted the Karkamış mayor as saying that people were leaving voluntarily and that there was no official evacuation order.
According to the Hurriyet daily, the Turkish military fired around 60 shells at four Islamic State targets across the border in retaliation.
However, Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the "Turkish shelling in Syria aimed to prevent the advance of troops backed by Kurds from Manbij towards Jarabulus".
He told the AFP news agency that the commander of Kurdish-dominated forces headed to Jarablus, Abdel Satar al-Jader, was also "assassinated" on Monday after announcing he planned to resist the Turkish advance. There was no confirmation from Turkish sources.
Turkey regards the PYD as a terror group, although Washington sees its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia -- as the most effective fighting force against the jihadists.
Turkey on Tuesday also vowed to give full support to moves to free the Syrian town of Jarablus from the control of Islamic State jihadists as expectations grew of a major Ankara-backed offensive against the group.
Activists have said hundreds of Ankara-backed rebels were preparing an offensive against IS to seize control of Jarabulus, which lies opposite of Karkamis in Turkey.
Without confirming the operation, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu pledged to give "all kinds of support" to push the jihadists out of Jarabulus.
"We do not want Daesh (IS) to exist in Iraq and Syria," he told reporters.
In an interview with private NTV television, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Turkey saw Jarabulus "as a national security matter".
"What we have said, since the beginning, is that having Jarabulus or any other city held by IS is unacceptable," he said.
[i24news.tv]
23/8/16
-
Related:
Turkish FM: Border With Syria Must be 'Cleansed' of Islamic State
Turkey vows active role in Syria, better regional ties
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
Syria Kurds win battle with government, Turkey mobilizes against them...
ReplyDeleteSyrian Kurdish forces took near complete control of Hasaka city on Tuesday as a ceasefire ended a week of fighting with the government, consolidating the Kurds' grip on Syria's northeast as Turkey increased its efforts to check their influence.
The Kurdish YPG militia, a critical part of the U.S.-backed campaign against Islamic State, already controls swathes of northern Syria where Kurdish groups have established de facto autonomy since the start of the Syria war in 2011.
Their growing sway has alarmed Turkey, which is fighting an insurgency among its own Kurdish minority.
Syrian rebels backed by Turkey said they were in the final stages of preparing an assault from Turkish territory on the Islamic State-held Syrian border town of Jarablus, aiming to preempt any YPG attempt to take it.
"We will give every kind of support to the Jarablus operation. This is important for our own security," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a news conference.....http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-kurds-idUSKCN10Y127?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29