Turkey ground, air strikes in Syria

– Turkey’s army, backed by international coalition air strikes yesterday, launched an operation involving fighter jets and elite ground troops to drive Islamic State (IS) jihadists out of a key Syrian border town.

The operation, the most ambitious launched by Turkey in the Syrian conflict, is aimed at clearing jihadists from the town of Jarabulus, which lies directly opposite the Turkish town of Karakamis, the prime minister’s office said.

Tensions had flared across the Syria-Turkey border the previous day, following rocket fire from Jarabulus which landed inside Turkey. The Turkish army fired howitzer rounds in response.

“The Turkish armed forces and the International Coalition air forces have launched a military operation aimed at clearing the district of Jarabulus of the province of Aleppo from the terrorist organisation Daesh,” the prime minister’s statement said, using an Arabic acronym for the IS group.

The operation also appeared aimed at pre-empting any assault on Jarabulus by pro-Kurdish militias which also oppose IS but Turkey accuses of seeking to carve out a Kurdish region in northern Syria. – AFP