Turkey has launched a military operation against ISIS in the north of Syria, Turkish state media has reported.
The aim of the operation, codenamed “Euphrates Shield” is to secure territory along its border with Syria from the ISIS threat, officials told Turkey’s semi-official Anadolu agency.
Turkish artillery units and warplanes belonging to the U.S.-led coalition pounded the ISIS-held Syrian town of Jarablus in the early hours of Wednesday.
Turkish tanks and special forces units are also operating along the border, CNN affiliate CNN Turk reported.
Jarablus lies along the west bank of the Euphrates River, less than a kilometer from Turkey. It’s the last major town held by ISIS on the Syrian-Turkish border.
Turkey has been hitting targets inside Syria for the past three days, following a mortar attack on residential areas in Karkamis, a town on the Turkish side of the border.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that Turkey will “fully support” operations against ISIS positions in Jarabulus.
Troops will create a 90 km by 40 km (55 mile by 25 mile) safe zone for refugees between the towns of Marea and Jarablus, Turkish media said.
Interior Minister Efkan Ala, in an interview with state media, said “we are working together with coalition and moderate opposition. Turkey will not allow terrorist organizations next to us to threaten Turkey. What is indispensable for Turkey is the territorial unity of Syria.”
Meanwhile, US Vice-President Joe Biden has arrived in Ankara, the country’s capital, where he is scheduled to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.
Rocked by terror
Karkamis is in Gaziantep province, whose capital was struck by a devastating bomb attack on a wedding Saturday night that was blamed on ISIS. That attack killed 54 people — the deadliest in a long string of blasts across Turkey this year.
Turkey has vowed to eradicate ISIS from its border regions in the wake of Saturday’s atrocity.
“Our border must be completely cleansed of Daesh,” Cavusoglu said in televised remarks Monday, referring to ISIS by another name.
War on two fronts
Turkey also shelled Kurdish YPG fighters Monday in northern Syria, attacking them north of Manbij, a city about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Jarablus.
US-backed Kurdish forces have been eager to drive ISIS out and to remove the group’s access to resupply of materiel and fighters from Turkey. Last month they secured a significant victory in Manbij, driving the terror group from the city and toward the north; now Jarablus is in their sights.
But while Turkey and the Kurdish YPG share a common enemy in ISIS, Turkey remains determined to keep the Kurdish fighters from advancing on its border.
Turkey says the YPG is linked to its own Kurdish insurgents, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, who have been blamed for a string of deadly attacks in the country since a ceasefire crumbled last year.