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Monday, 15 February 2016

Turkey strikes Kurdish fighters in Syria

The Turkish army struck positions of Kurdish fighters inside Syria for a second day Sunday in response to incoming fire, state media said, as an explosive stand-off between Ankara and Syrian Kurds intensified.

(Ahmed Deeb, AFP)
The army hit Democratic Union Party (PYD) targets around the Syrian town of Azaz using howitzers stationed on the Turkish side of the border, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Turkish forces carried out a similar bombardment on Saturday. Anatolia gave no further details but military sources quoted by Turkish media said the new exchange took place from 07:00 GMT.


Turkish forces would continue to strike PYD targets in Syria as long as the army came under fire from their positions, the military sources added.

Turkish media reports said the fire was clearly audible from the border crossing close to the southern Turkish town of Kilis. NTV television said Turkish forces had also captured three suspected PYD members in Kilis, without giving further details.

In Damascus, the Syrian government that is strongly opposed by Turkey condemned the attacks on its "territorial integrity" and urged the United Nations to act, Syrian state media said.

'Won't watch from sidelines'
Turkey has been gravely alarmed by the push by the PYD and its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia westwards along the Syrian border to the flashpoint town of Azaz. Ankara accuses the PYD of being the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that intensified in the last few months.

But Washington has been relying on the YPG as one of its few effective allies on the ground in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists in northern Syria. The PKK is recognised by the United States as a terror group but not the YPG or PYD.

The issue is causing increasing friction between the two NATO allies and complicating efforts to find a solution to Syria's five year civil war. US State Department spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement late Saturday that Washington urged Turkey to cease its cross-border artillery fire.

He said the United States had also urged the Kurdish fighters "not to take advantage of a confused situation by seizing new territory".

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