Syrian rebels advance on Kurds as Turkish strikes kill 35

After a almost three-week siege by regime troops, rebels early this month linked up with opposition-held neighbourhoods via a new road from the city’s south, in a major blow to forces loyal to Assad.

The fighting pits a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally against a US -backed proxy that is the most effective ground force battling IS in Syria. Turkish ambulances return from the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. The end of the siege will also free up regime troops to fight rebel forces elsewhere near Damascus. Yesterday’s use of warplanes against what Turkey said was a Kurdish YPG militia target highlights its determination to prevent any Kurdish territorial expansion in north Syria.

Last week the August death toll in and around the city rose to 448, reported the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. But it also is aimed at USA -allied Kurdish forces that have gained control in recent months of most of the territory along the Turkey-Syria border.

Turkey’s official news agency says one Turkish soldier has been killed and three wounded in Syria.

Some opponents of the regime tweeted pictures of the rebel commanders in Daraya, accusing them of betraying their people by agreeing to give up the town. However, the Turkish-backed rebels seized Jarablus first.

At least 15 civilians have been killed in a barrel bomb attack on a wake being held for children who died in earlier air strikes in the rebel-held Syrian city of Aleppo.

Earlier this month, the Kurdish-led SDF crossed the Euphrates and drove IS militants out of Manbij, a key supply hub south of Jarablus, after a 10-week campaign. Turkish security forces simply said Turkish-backed forces had extended their control to five villages beyond Jarablus.

Staffan de Mistura said in a statement on Saturday that for logistical and operational reasons convoys must go via the Castello Road during the first pause, although he was aware of rebel opposition to using that government-controlled route.

The shocking footage, a chilling reminder of war’s horrors was taken in a hospital and posted online by Syrian news outlet Aleppo Media Center-an anti-government activist group.

It said regime aircraft had dropped two explosive-packed barrel bombs several minutes apart on the Maadi district of eastern Aleppo. The report also added that there were not one, but two barrel bomb attacks that happened simultaneously.

Osama Abo Elezz, a doctor from the rebel-held part of Aleppo, said the barrel bombs fell Thursday in Aleppo’s Bab al-Nayreb district, hitting more than one building.

The Jarablus Military Council is supported by the US -backed and Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces.