Turkish tanks crossed into northern Syria on Wednesday as part of a military operation against ISIS, Turkish state media reported.
The aim of the operation, code-named Euphrates Shield, is to secure territory along its border with Syria from the ISIS threat, officials told Turkey’s semiofficial Anadolu agency.
The Kurds have alleged Turkish ground engagements on Syrian soil before, but they’ve never been proven. Turkish warplanes have been active in the skies above cities in northern Syria as part of US-led coalition air raids, but Wednesday’s incursion is the first confirmed instance of Turkish armor crossing the Syrian border.
Turkish artillery units and warplanes belonging to the coalition pounded the ISIS-held Syrian town of Jarablus early Wednesday.
Turkish special forces units are also operating along the border, 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 three days following a mortar attack on residential areas in Karkamis, a town on the Turkish side of the border.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that his country will “fully support” operations against ISIS positions in Jarabulus.
Troops will create a safe zone of 90 by 40 kilometers (55 by 25 miles) 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, Vice President Joe Biden has arrived in Ankara, the capital, where he is scheduled to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.
Rocked by terror
A wedding party in Gaziantep near the Syrian border was struck by a devastating bomb attack Saturday night. 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.