Turkey Shells Kurdish Villages, Agrees with U.S. to Forge 'IS-Free Zone' in Syria

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The United States and Turkey have agreed to work together to clear the Islamic State group from northern Syria, a senior U.S. official said Monday.

"The goal is to establish an ISIL-free zone and ensure greater security and stability along Turkey's border with Syria," the official told AFP, using an acronym for the jihadist group.

The pledge comes after a week of deadly violence in Turkey that the authorities blamed on both Kurdish PKK separatists and the Islamic State.

The violence included a suicide attack that killed 32 people and car bomb that killed two Turkish soldiers.

Ankara responded with a wave of attacks on Islamic State targets in Syria and Kurdish targets in Iraq.

The U.S. official, who asked not to be named, was speaking during a visit to Ethiopia by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The U.S. official said that details of the zone "remain to be worked out," but that "any joint military efforts will not include the imposition of a no-fly zone" -- a long standing Turkish demand.

It would however entail Turkey supporting U.S. "partners on the ground" who are fighting against IS.

But many are questioning whether Turkey is more interested in limiting Kurdish capabilities in Syria and Iraq than tackling IS.

Kurds living in belt that spans Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran have long advocated independence, something Ankara has roundly rejected.

Publicly, the U.S. has given tacit backing to Turkey's actions, saying Ankara "has a right to take action related to terrorist targets."

But there is concern that sustained attacks could cause a rift with Kurdish regional authorities in Iraq, who are a key partner in fighting the Islamic State inside that country.

Earlier on Monday, Turkish tanks shelled Kurdish-held villages in northern Syria, rebels and activists said, as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned that a military campaign by Ankara could "change the balance" in the region.

With its warplanes also hitting Kurdish targets in neighboring northern Iraq again on Sunday, Turkey called an extraordinary NATO meeting for Tuesday over its cross-border "anti-terror" offensive against Kurdish separatists and Islamic State jihadists.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey was poised to join coalition air strikes against the Islamic State group having agreed to open its airbases to the U.S. forces.

"Turkey is going to actively join the air attacks," he said on a visit to Portugal, with officials hinting the first U.S. bombing raids on IS from Turkish air bases could start in early August.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg defended Turkey's right to defend itself but told the BBC "of course self-defense has to be proportionate."

But he cautioned Turkey about burning bridges with the Kurds. "For years there has been progress to try to find a peaceful political solution," he told Norwegian state broadcaster NRK.

"It is important not to renounce that... because force will never solve the conflict in the long term."

However, a Turkish official said on condition of anonymity that "operations will, if needed, continue until the PKK terror command centers... and all depots to store arms to be used against Turkey are destroyed."

The Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) -- which pushed IS out of the Syrian flashpoint of Kobane early this year with the help of Western air strikes -- said Turkish tanks hit its positions overnight and those of allied Arab rebels in the village of Zur Maghar in Aleppo province.

The "heavy tank fire" wounded four members of the allied rebel force and several villagers, the YPG -- which Turkey accuses of being allied to its outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- said in a statement.

But Turkish officials denied deliberately targeting Syrian Kurds and said it was responding to fire from the Syrian side of the border.

"The bombing of the village is out of the question," a foreign ministry official told AFP. "Turkey has its rules of engagement. If there's fire from the Syrian side, it will be retaliated in kind."

As the bombardments were going on, Davutoglu told a group of Turkish newspaper editors that Ankara's intervention would "change the balance" in the region, but ruled out sending ground troops into Syria.

- Deal with U.S. -

He denied Turkey was worried by Kurdish gains against jihadists in northern Syria, pointing to Ankara's good relations with the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq.

Turkey has given a green light to the United States to use its Incirlik air base to attack IS targets after months of tough negotiations.

Davutoglu said the agreement met the concerns of Ankara, which had been pressing for a no-fly zone, "to a certain extent," according to the Hurriyet daily.

"Air cover is important, the air protection for the Free Syrian Army and other moderate elements fighting Daesh," he said, referring to IS by an Arabic acronym.

"If we will not send ground forces -- and that we will not do -- then certain elements that cooperate with us on the ground must be protected," Davutoglu added.

Ankara sources hinted that the first U.S. bombing missions out of Incirlik could start in early August with "elements of the Turkish Air Forces... deployed with the same objective in these operations."

- Clashes on the streets -

Tensions are running high in Turkey, with police dispersing nightly protests in Istanbul and other major cities denouncing IS and the government's policies on Syria.

Davutoglu ordered the air strikes and artillery barrages after IS violence spilled over into Turkey last Monday with a suicide bombing in a town close to the Syrian border that killed 32 people.

This incensed Turkey's Kurds, who have long accused the government of colluding with IS, allegations it denies.

Protests raged over the weekend in a Kurdish and leftist district of Istanbul, leaving one policeman dead, as 900 people with alleged links to IS, the PKK and other leftist organizations were rounded up, officials said.

Ankara started its campaign Friday by shelling IS targets in Syria but then expanded it to air strikes on PKK rebels in northern Iraq who are bitterly opposed to the jihadists.

The strikes seemed to torpedo long-running peace talks, with the separatists saying conditions were no longer in place to observe its ceasefire.

The PKK's military wing, the People's Defense Forces (HPG), claimed a car bomb attack that killed two Turkish soldiers on Sunday in Diyarbakir province.

It said three of its own fighters had been killed in Turkish air strikes Saturday, after one was killed in the first wave.

Two Turkish policemen were shot dead Wednesday while sleeping in their homes in the southeast, in murders also claimed by the PKK.

Comments 4
Thumb megahabib 27 July 2015, 12:47

Turkey is not attacking Assad, so they must be allies!

Thumb ex-fpm 27 July 2015, 14:05

ذكرت صحيفة "الأخبار" اللبنانية التابعة لـ"حزب الله"، أن المتهم باغتيال رئيس الوزراء اللبناني الأسبق، رفيق الحريري، يقاتل الآن مع عناصر "حزب الله" في الأراضي السورية.
وذكرت الصحيفة في عددها الصادر، اليوم الاثنين، وفجّرت مفاجأة، أن مصطفى بدر الدين القيادي في "حزب الله"، والذي تتهمه المحكمة الدولية الخاصة بلبنان باغتيال الرئيس الحريري، يمارس عمله العسكري في سوريا منذ بداية الأزمة فيها.
وأضافت الصحيفة أن لبدر الدين دوراً "في قيادة مجموعات المقاومة التي تقاتل إلى جانب الجيش السوري في أكثر من منطقة في سوريا"، وأن للمذكور نشاطات تتعدى العمل العسكري وصولا "إلى قيادته عملا أمنياً" لتوجيه "ضربات مباشرة إلى المجموعات التكفيرية" على زعم الصحيفة.
وتنقل الصحيفة عن بدر الدين أنه لن يغادر عمله في سوريا أو لبنان "أو أي ساحة أخرى" إلا "شهيداً محمولا أو رافعاً راية النصر".

Thumb megahabib 27 July 2015, 16:26

Wishful thinking, Anonymouse, the Turkey minister said: "Air cover is important, the air protection for the Free Syrian Army and other moderate elements fighting Daesh," he didn't mention Assad.

Missing VINCENT 28 July 2015, 03:49

A gift to Iran. The big brother is back home and is demanding his room back. Turkey will be kissing Iran's cheeks pretty soon. Funny, how the Wahabies in the Kingdom of intolerance all of a sudden nabbed 450 so called IS red shirts.