FUNKY Turkey ratchets up Syria attacks
AIR STRIKES ON KURDISH MILITIA, IS Ankara wants to stop Kurds gaining control of Syrian territory on frontier.
Rebels supported by Turkey fought Kurdish-backed forces in northern Syria on Saturday, as Ankara escalated its cross-border offensive with air strikes against both Kurdish forces and Islamic State.
Turkey’s government, which is fighting a Kurdish insurgency at home, has said the Syrian campaign was as much about preventing Kurdish militia from gaining territory in Syria as about pushing back Islamic State (IS).
Turkey wants to stop Kurdish forces gaining control of a continuous stretch of Syrian territory on its frontier, which it fears could embolden the Kurdish militant group PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency on Turkish soil.
Turkish security sources said two F-16 jets bombed a site controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia, which is part of the broader USbacked Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition. The jets also hit six IS targets.
On the ground, Turkish-backed Syrian rebels fought forces aligned with the SDF near the frontier town of Jarablus.
In Turkey, suspected Kurdish militants fired rockets at the airport in the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir, Dogan news agency said.
Turkey’s offensive into Syria began on Wednesday, supporting its rebel allies with Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes. It seized control of Jarablus from IS to stop Kurdish forces moving in first.
Any action against Kurdish forces in Syria puts Turkey at odds with the US, its Nato ally, which backs the SDF and YPG, seeing them as the most reliable ally in the fight against IS in Syria.
The Jarablus Military Council, part of the SDF, said earlier on Saturday that Turkish planes hit the village of al-Amarna south of Jarablus, killing civilians. It called the action “a dangerous escalation”.
The Kurdish-led administration that controls parts of northern Syria said Turkish tanks advanced on al-Amarna and clashed with forces of the Jarablus Military Council. Turkish security forces simply said Turkish-backed forces had extended their control to five villages beyond Jarablus. –