ISIS stronghold falls as Turkish tanks roll in
Syrian rebels backed by Turkey and the US captured almost all of Islamic State’s most crucial foothold on the Turkish border on Wednesday, depriving its so-called caliphate of a key route for supplies and foreign fighters.
Jarabulus was seized after Turkey sent tanks across the Syrian border for the first time, in a joint offensive with America. Turkish special forces, tanks, jets and artillery backed 2,000 Syrian fighters as they moved before dawn. Within hours they reported that the town was in their hands and that Isis fighters were retreating towards the city of al-Bab, to the southwest.
‘‘Jarabulus is completely liberated,’’ Ahmad Othman, a Syrian rebel commander boasted. He said that ‘‘90 per cent’’ of the town had been taken.
CNN Turk showed footage of fighters in the town centre, which appeared to be deserted.
The capture of Jarabulus, on the Isis supply route to Turkey, is critical to weakening the group before an assault on Raqqa, its de facto capital.
President Erdogan said the operation had been ordered in response to a string of suicide bombings – including one last weekend at a wedding in southern Turkey – vowing that it was ‘‘the end’’ for Isis.
The title of the operation, Euphrates Shield, underlined Turkey’s other purpose: to force back Syrian Kurds who had set their sights on capturing Jarabulus to add to an autonomous Kurdish corridor along the Turkish border.
Before the operation began Turkey demanded that the Kurds move back, an order reiterated by their American backers. Joe Biden, the vice-president, who flew into Ankara as the offensive started, ordered the Kurdish fighters, the YPG, to retreat to their territory east of the Euphrates or risk losing American support. ‘‘There will be no Kurdish corridor,’’ he said. ‘‘We have made it clear to the YPG that they must move back across the river. They won’t get US support if they do not keep that commitment.’’ American support for the YPG has been a sore point for Turkey, which condemns the group as terrorists.
Turkish artillery pounded Jarabulus from the early hours of Wednesday morning and Turkish special forces cleared the border area of explosives. Tanks moved across along with 2,000 Syrian fighters from a new coalition of moderate Islamic groups, including ethnic Turkmen and Arabs.
US special forces worked with Turkish officers to direct operations while American drones fed back live surveillance of the battlefield. American Warthog ground attack aircraft and F-16 warplanes, based at Incirlik in southern Turkey, carried out strikes.
American officials said that their goal was to drive out Isis and that they had ordered the Kurds to retreat only to avoid confrontation between their allies. ‘‘We don’t want a direct clash between those forces and the Turks,’’ an official told reporters on Biden’s jet.
Syria’s semi-autonomous Kurdish administration condemned the intervention by Turkey as ‘‘a declaration of war,’’ however, saying that it was now ‘‘on the same side’’ as the Assad regime.
Nasser Mansour, a Kurdish commander with the Syrian Democratic Forces, accused Turkey of doing a deal with Isis to capture Jarabulus. ‘‘Everyone knows Isis left the city before the operation began, after deals between their emirs and Turkey,’’ he said.
The Assad regime condemned the operation as a ‘‘flagrant violation’’ of its territory. The Syrian foreign minister said: ‘‘What’s happening in Jarabulus now is not fighting terrorism as Turkey claims, but replacing terrorism with another terrorism.’’
Russia, Assad’s most powerful military ally, said it was ‘‘deeply concerned’’ that the intervention would worsen the conflict in northern Syria, bringing new clashes between Kurds and Arabs.
The Turkish show of force came weeks after a failed military coup last month. That attempt prompted the government to purge its military of more than 1,000 officers, raising fears that the army would be left in a weakened state. Relations between Ankara and Washington were strained as Turkish leaders accused western allies of failing to give sufficient backing.
Turkey also accuses the US of harbouring Fethullah Gulen, the Islamic cleric it claims masterminded the revolt. Mr Biden insisted that the extradition demand from Turkey was a matter for the courts, not the White House, to decide.