Turkey strikes Daesh in Syria as tensions rise over border town

A Turkish army tank and an armored vehicle are stationed near the border with Syria, in Karkamis, Turkey, on Tuesday. (AP)

ANKARA: Turkish artillery shelled Daesh targets across the border in Syria for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, a senior Turkish official said, amid reports that Turkey-backed Syrian rebels are preparing an offensive against a Daesh-held border town.

The latest developments have thrust the town of Jarablus onto center stage in the ongoing Syrian civil war, putting US-backed Kurdish forces, who have been the most effective force against Daesh in northern Syria, on track for a confrontation with NATO ally Turkey over control of the town.
Jarablus is a vital supply line and the last border point that directly connects the Daesh group with Turkey and the outside world, and separates Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria.
The town is 33 km from the town of Manbij, which was liberated from Daesh by Kurdish-led forces earlier this month. Taking over Jarablus and the Daesh-held town of Al-Bab further south would be a significant step toward linking up border areas under Kurdish control east and west of the Euphrates River. The Turkish shelling came after mortar rounds, believed to have been fired by the militants from Jarablus, landed on Turkish territory.
The Turkish Hurriyet newspaper and others said the mortar rounds Tuesday hit the town of Karkamis, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province. One of them exploded in the garden of a house, but no one was hurt.
Anadolu Agency said Turkish artillery fired 40 rounds against Daesh targets in retaliation, after three rockets fired from Syria landed in an empty field in the town of Kilis. The report says the Turkish Armed Forces “covered the area with fire” without providing any details.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Army and its allies intensified their attacks on militant positions around the so-called military college in Aleppo.
A video showed air raids, shelling and firing on the complex, which was taken over by Al-Qaeda-affiliated ultras earlier this month. Plumes of smoke were seen billowing overhead.
Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said in e-mailed comments on Tuesday that Russia and the Syrian government will announce “the first 48-hour humanitarian break in hostilities” in Aleppo as soon as they receive an official request from the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura.