Turkey accused of shelling Kurdish forces in Syria, muddying anti-IS push
Turkey has long sought a buffer zone in northern Syria. Critics say it is exploiting the US-led battle against Islamic State militants to strike at Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria that it sees as a threat to Turkish rule.
Turkey has long sought a buffer zone in northern Syria. Critics say it is exploiting the US-led battle against Islamic State militants to strike at Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria that it sees as a threat to Turkish rule.
Kurdish forces in Syria have claimed that a town they hold against the Islamic State has been shelled by Turkey. The accusation highlights the growing complexity of Turkey's role in the Syrian conflict, since it is attacking both聽IS forces and those of the聽PKK, a banned Kurdish group previously engaged in peace talks with Ankara.聽
According to a statement from the Kurdish People鈥檚 Protection Units (YPG), its positions in Zur Maghar came under "heavy tank fire" from Turkey, reports Agence France-Presse. The barrage wounded four members of an allied rebel force in the town, which consists of both YPG and allied Arab units, as well as several villagers. A second attack later hit both Zur Maghar and a nearby village, it said.聽
The YPG is closely allied with the PKK, which is based in Turkey and Iraq.聽
"Instead of targeting [Islamic State] terrorist occupied positions, Turkish forces attack our defenders鈥� positions," the YPG said in its statement. 鈥淲e urge [the] Turkish leadership to halt this aggression and to follow international guidelines. We are telling the Turkish army to stop shooting at our fighters and their positions.鈥�
Turkey denied the charge.聽"The ongoing military operation seeks to neutralize imminent threats to Turkey's national security and continues to target [IS] in Syria and the PKK [Kurdish separatists] in Iraq," a Turkish official told AFP. The Syrian Kurds, "along with others, remains聽outside the scope of the current military effort." He added that Turkey would investigate what happened in Zur Maghar.
But the attack, which was also reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based watchdog, underscores the conflicting allegiances that have been brought to the fore by Turkey's direct entry into the conflict.
Last Monday, an IS suicide bombing in the Turkish town of Suru莽聽left 32 people dead.聽Turkey responded by launching airstrikes聽against IS targets in Syria and conducting sweeping raids in Turkey to round up both IS militants and purported members of the PKK. While both Turkey and the US classify the PKK a terrorist group, it has emerged as a US proxy against IS. 聽
Turkey's direct entry into the conflict appears to have been facilitated by a tacit agreement with the US to create a de facto "no fly zone" along the Turkish-Syrian border, a long-time goal of Ankara and insurgent forces within Syria, both of whom seek to topple Mr. Assad. The New York Times reports that:
But the Times notes that the Syrian insurgents "would gain at the expense of" the YPG.