Turkish-backed operations in north Syria are
attacking US-supported forces outside the flashpoint city of Minbij, with
several people reported killed and injured in recent days, local sources told
dpa on Friday.
Syrian state-television,
quoting a military source, confirmed there was shelling from the Turkish side.
“The Turkish aggression
on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic is an attempt to stop the
successes and progress of the Arab army Syrian and allied forces in the war
against terrorist organisations,” according to the report.
On Tuesday, the Minbij
Military Council, which is part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces
(SDF), handed areas west of Minbij to Syrian government forces, part of an
agreement brokered by Russia.
The SDF had taken the
area from Islamic State in 2016.
The U. S. has also
moved troops into Minbij, in an apparent effort to deter further Turkish
attacks on the SDF, which is Washington’s main ally on the ground in the war
against Islamic State.
SDF forces, which are
dominated by the Kurdish YPG, are moving on al-Raqqa, Islamic State’s capital
in Syria.
“The Turkish artillery
has been, since Thursday, shelling posts of the Syrian border guards in the
western countryside of Minbij causing deaths and injuries,” an SDF officer told
dpa.
The Kurdish Firat news
agency said five SDF-allied troops were buried on Friday.
Turkey has threatened
to take over Minbij as part of a military campaign in northern Syria. Ankara
now controls more than 2,000 square kms of its neighbour’s territory.
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