ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Turkish military and its American-led coalition allies began heavily bombarding the Syrian border town of Jarablus early on Wednesday as part of an operation aimed at forcing Islamic State (ISIS) militants from that town.
The operation began at 4 a.m. with Turkish artillery firing 224 times at 63 targets, followed by Turkish and coalition jet fighters launching airstrikes against other ISIS targets in the town.
According to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news, the aim of this operation is to clear “terrorist elements” from the area and deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in that area to prevent a new wave of refugees entering Turkey.
Reuters was told by a senior Turkish official that Turkish Special Forces have also crossed the border, however military sources in Turkey say no ground operation has begun.
Turkey has reportedly been hosting fighters from various groups in the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on Turkish territory just across the border from Jarablus who will reportedly assault ISIS in the town from Turkey with the backing of the Turkish military.
Wednesday’s operation follows artillery attacks launched by Turkey on Tuesday, which targeted both ISIS in Jarablus and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters north of Manbij. Those bombardments followed a mortar attack on Turkey’s border province of Kilis on the same day.
Wednesday’s operation is also the first time Turkish F-16 jet fighters have entered Syrian airspace since the shooting down of a Russian warplane last November, which led to a seven-month long strain in relations between Ankara and Moscow.
