Turkey secures area around captured Syrian town

The Turkey-backed Syrian rebels captured the city of Jarablus in northern Syria on Wednesday, dislodging the Islamic State (IS) from their last stronghold on the Syrian-Turkish borders, a monitor group reported.

Located 20 miles (33 kilometers) from the town of Manbij, which was liberated from IS by Kurdish-led forces earlier this month, taking control of Jarablus and the IS-held town of al-Bab to the south would be a significant step toward linking up border areas under Kurdish control east and west of the Euphrates River.

Ankara views the YPG as a threat because of its close links to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), which has waged a 30-year insurgency on its own soil.

Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel.

Earlier, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party tweeted that Turkey was entering a “quagmire” in Syria and faces defeat.

The U.S. military picture in Syria is getting more chaotic and complicated by the day, putting new strains on the Obama administration’s strategy of partnering with a hodgepodge of local fighters against the Islamic State group without getting pulled deeper into Syria’s civil war or rupturing relations with Turkey.

But Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and senior government officials have made it clear that the aim of “Operation Euphrates Shield” is as much about stopping the Kurdish YPG from seizing more territory along the border and filling the void left by ISIL as it is about eliminating the hardline group itself.

Hopefully the Turks will understand that they can not fight the Americans now in Syria and they must understand that their conflict of interest must take Turkey to reconsider the whole position or the situation of the Turkish government.

Ankara’s hostility towards the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) puts it at loggerheads with its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, the United States, which works with the group on the ground in the fight against IS.

Turkish air and artillery strikes supported the advance, with help from the US-led coalition. “We may put them into service as needed”, the official said.

It said Turkish tanks and armored vehicles crossed into Syria under the cover of US -led airstrikes.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “substituting (ISIS) with other terrorist organizations backed directly by Turkey” is not “fighting terrorism”. “They can not, will not, under any circumstance get American support if they do not keep that commitment”, he said.

Hours after the start of the operation, rebels backed by the Turkish forces battled their way through several IS-held villages and entered Jarablus.

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are preparing an offensive to capture the Syrian town of Jarablus from the so-called Islamic State group.

It quoted security sources as saying that the Turkish military would continue to intervene against the PYD until it began to retreat. The most prominent faction are the People’s Protection Units, or the YPG – key fighters in the ground war against the Islamic State and recipients of American aid, but a group that Turkey sees indelibly linked to outlawed Kurdish insurgents operating within its borders.

Tensions had flared across the Syria-Turkey border on Tuesday following rocket fire from Jarabulus which landed inside Turkey.

Turkey has floated plans for intervention in Syria before, but the push on Jarabulus was its most ambitious move yet.

But if the Kurds don’t return to the eastern banks of the Euphrates – Turkey’s “red line” – the operation against ISIS could evolve into something very different – perhaps a broader operation that also focuses on the YPG.

Despite the tough talk, the Kurds may decide to pull back from Manbij to appease their US allies, handing it over to the so-called Manbij Military Council.