Turkish air strikes and artillery have struck US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, killing as many as 200 fighters, according to Turkey's state-run news agency.
A senior commander with the main Syria Kurdish militia confirmed that Turkish aircraft and field gun units were still attacking his forces north of Aleppo, but disputed the casualty count, saying no more than 10 fighters had been killed so far.
Further south, a humanitarian pause announced by Russia for the besieged rebel-held city of Aleppo took effect, and the Syrian military, using loudspeakers, called on residents to evacuate and for gunmen to lay down their weapons.
However, there was no indication of residents leaving the bombed-out districts.
The bombardment is a major escalation by Turkey and comes as the Iraqi government offensive to recapture the city of Mosul from Islamic State in Iraq intensifies . Iraqi Kurdish forces have taken the brunt of the fighting so far in that theatre.
Turkish troops in Iraq have trained fighters involved in the Mosul offensive, which has been a source of tension with the Iraqi government in recent days.
Kurdish forces in Syria have also carried out most of the fighting against Islamic State, the jihadi faction also known as Isis. They have made significant territorial gains, including advances in the last few days against Islamic State militants in Aleppo province, much to Ankara’s fury.
Turkey, whose government is dealing with a Kurdish insurgency within its borders, has been trying to prevent an expansion of Kurdish influence in Syria.
Overnight attack
Cdr
Mahmoud Barkhadan
, of the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG), said Turkish tanks have been shelling his forces in the area since early on Wednesday.
He said warplanes joined overnight and continue to pound YPG units adding that more than 30 aerial attacks had taken place so far and that early reports suggest no more than 10 fighters were killed and 20 were wounded.
There was no word on civilian casualties yet.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 11 Kurdish fighters were killed and four are missing following the air raids in northern Aleppo.
“We will not back down,” Cdr Barkhadan said. He accused Turkey of aiding Islamic State militants by diverting the fight into a Turkish-Kurdish one.
“We are fighting Daesh, why are they striking at us?” he asked, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
Cdr Barkhadan, a senior officer who led the fight against Islamic State in Kobani in 2015, said Turkish artillery also shelled an area near Afrin, a Kurdish enclave in northwestern Syria.
He said his forces have not retreated from newly-held territories, but that the Turkish attack allowed Islamic State fighters to wage a counteroffensive.
Tensions
The Anadolu Agency, quoting military officials, said the raids were carried out late on Wednesday night, attacking 18 targets in the Maarraat Umm Hawsh region in northern Syria. The agency claimed that between 160 and 200 militia fighters were killed.
The Syrian Kurdish force has been an ongoing source of tension between Nato allies Turkey and the United States. The US considers the YPG to be the most effective force in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.
Turkey says the group is an extension of its own outlawed Kurdish militants who have carried out a series of deadly attacks in Turkey over the past year and considers it to be a terrorist organisation.
Ankara has grown increasingly wary as the YPG succeeded in securing large portions of territory along the Syrian-Turkish border.
Humanitarian pause
Meanwhile in Aleppo, as the humanitarian pause announced by Russia took effect, the Syrian military used loudspeakers to urge residents to evacuate and for gunmen to lay down their weapons.
Al-Mayadeen TV, a Beirut-based pro-Syrian regime channel, broadcast on Thursday an hour after the pause began from near one of the designated passages. Tannoys blared military calls for residents to let the sick and wounded out first, and urged fighters to disarm.
The message said: “The battle for returning Aleppo to the nation’s fold is in its last phases. There is no point in continuing the fight.”
Gunfire was heard in the background and soldiers were seen taking cover from gunfire before buses, parked on the government-side of Aleppo city, started their engines and left.
Moscow said the pause is to allow civilians and militants safe passage out of the eastern districts of the city – which has been subjected to a tight siege since July and a punishing bombing campaign since mid-September.
– (AP)