Turkey, US ‘ready to invade IS capital’ Raqqa

Coalition forces also destroyed bomb-laden vehicle belonging to Daesh terrorists in air operation in Syria’s Yahmul.

Isik was speaking after a meeting in London with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who told reporters that the YPG had indeed returned back across the Euphrates. Without whole-hearted United States support, they are vulnerable to attacks by the numerous enemies who encircle them, notably Turkey and possibly, in future, the Syrian government.

Turkey launched an operation inside Syria. Turkey plunged into Syria with ground forces for the first time.

“The Kurds remain the most combat ready allies for the USA, but in fact, the Kurdish militants and NATO’s ally Turkey now are fighting against each other”. It demands the ouster of “Bashar al-Assad and his clique” within six months and the installation of a “transitional governing body” that would rule the country for 18 months leading up to elections. “And Turkey will also have a stronger say, at the proverbial Syrian table”.

Foreign observers believe that here the Syrian Kurds may be detecting a co-ordinated conspiracy against themselves which does not really exist.

Further south and west of Jarablus, Turkish forces have continued fighting. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other Turkish authorities officially announced the objective of the operation, at the outset, as the targeting of Kurdish forces alongside ISIS. “On the contrary, we will work to implement it”, she said.

The Kurds may have been too successful for their own good.

Russian Federation on Wednesday expressed serious concern about the advance of Turkish troops and Ankara-backed opposition militias inside Syria. The complex mosaic of shaky alliances, tacit understandings, deep-seated rivalries and age-long hostility began to shift.

But Ankara’s move, directed in part against Kurdish forces backed by Washington, prompted serious strains in US-Turkey relations, already poor in the wake of the failed coup against the Erdogan government.

The operation by Free Syrian Army rebels and Turkish armour has since expanded to clear IS from other border areas it controlled.

“We thank Turkey for everything”.

The US had previously pinned hopes on the Kurdish YPG militia taking Raqqa before the Syrian army.

He said more would return gradually.

“To accept Assad means the continuation of conflict and chaos”. Ankara has pressed on carving out territory with its Syrian rebel allies despite a lack of worldwide support. “We have told him that this is not a problem for us…”

As well as those killed, many others are said to have been injured including one man who was shot in both of his legs while carrying his young son and another who was shot in the arm.

There are now so many global players involved in the multiple crises and confrontations being fought out in Syria that everybody’s room for advance – and even manoeuvre – is constrained. Analysts warn that with thousands of jihadists in the densely populated city, it would most likely be a brutal fight. There continues to be no evidence in the US.

But Turkey on Tuesday sustained its biggest loss of life in the operation to date, with three soldiers killed in an IS rocket attack on their tanks.

In a “flash update”, OCHA says figures from a camp coordination group show almost half of the displaced arrived in the neighboring Idlib governorate.

Through its large-scale incursion into northern Syria, Turkey has made itself a military player in the country.

Yousef said: “We will certainly respond to any attack that the Turks mount against our forces”.