The Turkish army yesterday clashed with Kurdish militia in Syria in an operation that has already left three of its soldiers dead, as the United States voiced alarm that the offensive could endanger attempts to end the Syrian civil war.
Speaking at the funeral of the first Turkish soldier to be killed so far in the four-day-old cross-border campaign, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that Ankara would emerge victorious.
Turkey on Saturday launched operation “Olive Branch” aimed at rooting out the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which Ankara sees as a terror group, from its Afrin enclave in northern Syria.
The campaign has caused ripples of concern among Turkey’s Nato allies, especially the United States which is still working closely with the YPG to defeat Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria.
In his strongest comments yet on the offensive, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis urged Turkey to show “restraint” and warned it could harm the fight against the militants.
Mattis, on a visit to Indonesia, warned the offensive “disrupts what was a relatively stable area in Syria and distracts from the international effort to defeat” IS.
Turkish artillery yesterday pounded targets of the YPG inside Syria, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Turkish drones were also carrying out attacks, state television said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said fighting was “very violent” to the northeast, northwest and southwest of Afrin.
The Observatory said the offensive took control of two villages so far.
As well as the artillery and air strikes, Turkish ground troops and Ankara-backed Syrian rebels have punched over the border several kilometres into Syrian territory, taking several villages, according to state media.
After intense exchanges, Turkey’s forces took control of the hill of Barsaya, a key strategic point in the Afrin region.
The Observatory said 43 Ankara-backed rebels and 38 Kurdish fighters had been killed in the fighting so far.
It has also said 28 civilians have been killed on the Syrian side but this is vehemently rejected by Turkey which says it is targeting militants only.
Sergeant Musa Ozalkan, 30, the first Turkish military fatality of the operation, was laid to rest with full honours in a ceremony in Ankara attended by the Turkish leadership.
“We will win and reach victory in this operation together with our people, together with Free Syrian Army,” Erdogan assured mourners, referring to the Ankara-backed rebels. “We have full confidence,” he added.
Two more Turkish soldiers — a first lieutenant and a sergeant — were killed inside Syria yesterday in clashes with the YPG, the military said.




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