Turkish tanks roll into Syria, pushing IS out of border town

Moscow calls on US to do more to counter al-Nusra

KARKAMIS, Turkey/Ankara, Aug 24, (Agencies): Syrian rebels backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes entered one of Islamic State’s last strongholds on the Turkish-Syrian border on Wednesday, in Turkey’s first major US-backed incursion into its southern neighbour.

A column of at least nine Turkish tanks crossed into Syria with the group of largely Arab and Turkmen rebels to drive Islamic State out of Jarablus and surrounding villages. A Reuters reporter at the border witnessed intense bombardments, with palls of black smoke rising around the town.

President Tayyip Erdogan said the operation was targeting both Islamic State and the Kurdish PYD party, whose gains in northern Syria have alarmed Turkey. Ankara views the PYD as an extension of Kurdish militants fighting an insurgency on its own soil, putting it at odds with Washington, which sees the group as an ally in the fight against Islamic State.

“This morning at 4 am (0100 GMT) an operation started in northern Syria against terror groups which constantly threaten our country, like DAESH (Islamic State) and the PYD,” Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.

US Vice-President Joe Biden, who arrived in Turkey, a key NATO ally with its second biggest armed forces, on a pre-planned trip hours after the operation began, tried to soothe Turkish concerns about Kurdish territorial gains in Syria.

“No (Kurdish) corridor. Period. No separate entity on the Turkish border. A united Syria,” he told a joint news conference in Ankara with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Biden said Washington had made clear to Kurdish militia fighters that they should return east of the Euphrates river again — a red line for Turkey — after helping to capture the city of Manbij south of Jarablus from Islamic State this month.

“They cannot, will not, and under no circumstances get American support if they do not keep that commitment,” he said.

The offensive, dubbed “Euphrates Shield”, is Turkey’s first major military operation since a failed July 15 coup shook confidence in its ability to step up the fight against Islamic State. It came four days after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people at a wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.

A US defence official said both A-10 “Warthog” ground attack aircraft and F-16 fighter jets were carrying out strikes in support for the operation.

Syria’s foreign ministry condemned

what it said was a breach of its sovereignty and accused Ankara of launching the incursion to replace Islamic State with “other terrorist groups”. Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said it was deeply worried by the escalation of tension after Turkey’s move.

Meanwhile, Russia called on the US to do more to combat the al-Nusra Front in Syria, considered a terrorist group by both Moscow and Washington even after it split from al-Qaeda.

“Washington agrees that al-Nusra, which will henceforth be called the Fateh al-Sham Front, is a terrorist organisation, but it has not been the target of strikes” carried out in Syria by the US-led international coalition, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

“It has been nearly a year in which the Americans have refused to share with us their data on the location of al-Nusra militants,” the statement said.

“Instead of taking practical steps (against al-Nusra), the Americans have made any intensification in their fight

against terrorism conditional on promises of (regime) change” in Syria, it added.

Russia warned the US against creating a “new terrorist monster in Syria”.

America has for two years led an international coalition against the IS group, conducting daily strikes and working with local forces on the ground to help them fight the jihadists.

The Israeli air force struck a Syrian army target Monday in response to what the military said was stray fire into its zone of control on the Golan Heights.

“Earlier, stray fire from Syrian conflict breached Israeli territory in the Golan Heights,” army spokesman Peter Lerner wrote on Twitter.

“Israel Air Force targeted Syrian Army launcher in Syrian Golan Heights, in response,” he added.

A separate army statement said no injuries were reported on the Israeli side. No further details were given. A ceasefire agreement in the flashpoint Syrian city of Hasakeh after a week of clashes has calmed soaring tensions that

had drawn in major powers the United States and Russia.

The northeastern city is located in a region of geopolitical significance near the borders with Turkey and Iraq, and is seen by the Kurds as vital to their push for autonomy. Who’s who in Hasakeh? Kurdish fighters in the city belong to the Asayesh police force and the powerful People’s Protection Units (YPG), which functions more like an army and has scored key victories against the Islamic State jihadist group.

Facing off against them were fighters from the pro-government National Defence Forces (NDF) militia, as well as a small contingent of traditional army soldiers.

Analysts say few regular soldiers were involved in the battle because they are spread too thin on other fronts.

The US-led coalition bombing IS in Syria has backed the YPG in its operations against jihadists with air support and military advisers.