Turkish bombardment kills 20 civilians in Syria: monitor

The operation cut the road before the Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the allied SDF could take that city, as it was the Kurdish groups’ next target, following a series of successful operations against the IS in northern Syria near the Turkish borders.

Kurds have staged a protest rally in the Syrian town of Kobani to warn Turkey against a potential military incursion into the town.

Turkish military sources told Reuters that two F-16 fighter jets bombarded a site controlled by the YPG militia, which is a significant part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The Kurdish YPG militia, which makes up a large part of the SDF, said it had withdrawn east of the Euphrates in line with US and Turkish demands after the SDF drove Islamic State out of Manbij.

The tanks were hit in the area of the Syrian town of Jarabulus.

Turkish officials have openly stated that their goal in Syria is as much about ensuring Kurdish forces do not add to the territory they already control along Turkey’s border, as it is about driving Isis from its strongholds. He said the bombing also targeted the village of Amarneh. Rebels posted pictures from inside the village.

Footage filmed by a Sky News cameraman in Jarablus shows Turkish-backed Syrian rebels firing on Kurdish positions, as well as Turkish tanks positioned inside Syria.

He said the government “had enough” of recent mortar attacks targeting the Karkamis district of the border province of Kilis, which ultimately provoked the launch of the Euphrates Shield operation.

The latest fighting is likely to raise deep concerns forTurkey’s North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally the United States, which supports theKurdish militia – known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG) – as an effective fighting force against IS. SDF-allied militia damaged three Turkish tanks, it said.

Turkey said 25 Kurdish militants were killed in its air strikes and denied there were civilian casualties. Turkey is a leading backer of the rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad. But both Ankara and Damascus share concerns over Kurdish ambitions for autonomy.

The Syrian Observatory reported on Saturday that at least 16 people were killed when helicopters dropped explosives on a funeral in a rebel-held area of Aleppo.

Elsewhere in Syria activists say at least 15 people were killed in a barrel bomb attack in Aleppo.

Turkey has vowed to continue the campaign until there is no longer a “terror” threat from its neighbour, likely to refer both to IS and to the Kurds.

Ankara considers the YPG a “terrorist” group and has fiercely opposed its bid to expand into areas recaptured from ISIS to create a contiguous autonomous zone. The group blamed Russian and Syrian joint military operations room for the use of such weapons in violation of worldwide law.

The neighborhood, home to almost 75,000 people, has been under siege since March and has been one area that U.N agencies have reported hard to access. An aid convoy reached the area on Aug.25.

Yesterday, the last rebel fighters were evacuated from the town of Daraya just outside Damascus, under a deal that followed a brutal four-year government siege.