New Turkish tank incursion into Syria

The tanks were backed by artillery, which fired on IS positions in the area, Turkish media said.

But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey would not allow the group to create a “terror corridor”.

Three Turkish soldiers were injured in a rocket attack on a tank near Jarabulus, according to Turkish television. In fact, the YPG is reckoned to be the most effective US ally taking on ISIS on the ground in Syria.

On the military front, the Turks have always been concerned by the successes of the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, claiming that these fighters are indistinguishable from the militants of the PKK, who have been fighting Ankara’s rule in the south-east of Turkey for decades. Since then however, the Turkish forces and their allies have clashed with fighters from the YPG, which it says is closely linked to its long-time internal foe, the PKK.

In the simultaneous separate war against the Islamic State in Syria, there is active participation by a dozen foreign governments, including the USA and eight other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members.

That tone started to change when the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition dominated by the Kurdish YPG, started getting bombed by Ankara and was locked in clashes with Turkey-backed rebels.

Erdogan said the Syrian Kurdish militia has failed to abide by its agreement to retreat to east of the Euphrates River. He said Kurdish commanders had made “commitments” that they would hand over captured areas to local forces and that Washington expected the Kurds to stand by those commitments.

But Kalin, the Turkish presidential spokesman, said such a deal was “out of the question”, insisting the Kurdish Syrian militiamen will remain a target for Turkey until they move east of the Euphrates.

Western officials have expressed alarm that the fighting between the US allies has diverted their attention from the fight against the Islamic State group.

The pursuit of Kurdish forces, whom Turkey considers terrorists, has led to criticism by Washington. Nevertheless, Turkey’s active measures in Syria will raise new tensions with the US-backed PYD. “And their operations along the border against ISIL are extraordinarily important and welcome”.

Turkey’s pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper said Turkish air strikes in support of the rebels continued on Saturday.

“We would like to see the real intention of the authorities of the United States about the extradition of this particular man”.

However, Turkey showed no signs of being ready to reach an accommodation with the YPG.

“Whilst their battalion is engaged in frontline operations they are now all well”, said a spokesman for the group of Brit volunteers, fighting under the International Freedom Battalion (IFB) banner. A cease-fire with the group was “out of the question”, Kalin said. Turkey fears that, as ISIS is defeated, Kurdish fighters will try to establish an enclave along that border, thus giving the Kurds a base where they can threaten Turkey in the future.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Wednesday that Turkey’s operation would continue “until terror elements are completely neutralised and threats to our border, soil and citizens are over”.