Turkey begins assault on Kurdish-held enclave in Syria
TURKEY - The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia has said Turkish forces have fired about 70 shells at Kurdish villaJes in the $frin reJion of north-Zestern Syria as $nkara said its threatened military assault Zas ³de facto´ under Zay
The bombardment from Turkish territory began at around midnight and continued into yesterday morning. Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish militia as an e[tension of Kurdish rebels fighting Turkey and has vowed to attack their $frin enclave, massing troops and tanks on its border for several days.
0ilitary action, however, risks further inflaming relations with the 8S, which allied with the Kurdish-led Syrian Defence )orce in its campaign against ,slamic State.
The Turkish defence minister, Nurettin &anikli, yesterday said the assault had begun. ³The operation has actually started de facto with crossborder shelling,´ &anikli told the broadcaster $ +aber. ³:hen , say µde facto’, , don’t want it to be misunderstood. ,t has begun. $ll terror networks and elements in northern Syria will be eliminated. There is no other way.´
5oMhat 5oM, a <3* spokesman in $frin, told Reuters that yesterday’s assault marked the heaviest Turkish bombardment since the Turkish government stepped up threats to take military action against the Kurdish region.
5oM, speaking from $frin, said the <3* would respond with utmost force to any attack on $frin.
0ilitary action would mean confronting Kurds allied to the 8nited States at a time when Turkey’s relations with :ashington are reaching breaking point. The 8S state department has called on Turkey to focus on the fight against ,sis and not send its troops into $frin.
³:e would call ... on the Turks to not take any actions of that sort,´ the state department spokeswoman +eather Nauert told a briefing this week. ³:e don’t want them to engage in violence but we want them to keep focused on ,sis.´
Turkey sent its military chief to 0oscow on Thursday, seeking approval for an air campaign in the Kurdish controlled region, although Damascus has warned it could shoot down any Turkish planes in its skies.
The issue is one of several that have disrupted relations between :ashington and its biggest 0uslim ally within Nato. The countries are also at odds over the 8S refusal to e[tradite a cleric Turkey blames for a failed coup, and the 8S prosecution of a Turkish banker for sanctions busting, in which testimony implicated top Turkish officials.
(The Guardian)