Syrian government, Kurds reach truce in Hasakeh

Turkey’s armed forces have begun attacking ISIS targets as well as USA -supported Kurdish forces across the border in Syria, shortly after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday pledged to rid the region of ISIS militants.

Two mortar rounds reportedly hit the southeastern Turkish town of Karkamis, which neighbours Jarabulus, but there are no reports of casualties.

The shelling came as activists said hundreds of Ankara-backed rebels were preparing an offensive against the IS group to seize control of Jarablus.

Islamic State was driven from the city earlier this month but left behind many booby traps which were being cleared.

The Kurdish fighters are moving from the town of Manbij – which they recently freed from Daesh – toward Jarablus, another town held by the terror group.

Reports were that the attack began after midnight following failed negotiations between the two parties mediated by the Russians.

Manbij and Jarablus have been key ISIS strongholds along its supply line from the Turkish border to the capital of its self-declared caliphate, Raqqa, to the southeast. Taking over Jarablus and the Isis-held town of al-Bab further south would be a significant step toward linking up border areas under Kurdish control east and west of the Euphrates River.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, meanwhile, reported that the first Turkish counterattack on Tuesday was aimed at the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Ankara associates with the PKK.

Turkish forces have been pounding IS positions in retaliation for shells fired into Turkish territory in recent days.

Turkey’s military bombed Islamic State and Kurdish targets across the border in Syria on Tuesday, state-run media said.

A Syrian rebel with one of the Turkey-backed groups told Reuters that fighters were waiting for the signal to enter Jarablus.

Nasser Haj Mansour, an SDF official on the Syrian side of the border, said the fighters gathering in Turkey include “terrorists” as well as Turkish special forces. Turkish officials have blamed IS for the attack.

Turkey has had one of the bloodiest years in its modern history, facing a string of attacks by Isis and Kurdish militants and an attempted coup on 15 July.

The Kurdish Hawar News Agency says government forces and pro-government militias have agreed to withdraw from Hasakeh and leave it in under the control of the local Kurdish police force, the Asayish, as part of the terms of the cease-fire.

The mortar shells hit the garden of a property linked to a mosque in Karkamis after striking power lines, Anadolu said.

The battle over Hasaka marks the most violent confrontation between the Kurdish YPG militia and Damascus in more than five years of civil war, and victory would be a major boost for the Kurds despite Turkish efforts to curb their gains. No one was hurt by the rockets.