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TURKEY INVADES SYRIA TO CLEAR OUT ISIS WITH SUPPORT FROM AMERICAN AIR-STRIKES

August 24, 2016
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey announces anti-ISIS Operation in Syria
Turkish Tanks entered in to Syrian soil and started attacking ISIS

VietPress USA (August 24th, 2016): “The Turkish Armed Forces and the International Coalition Air Forces have launched a military operation aimed at clearing the district of Jarablus of the province of Aleppo from the terrorist organization Daesh," a statement from the Turkish Prime minister's office said.

Today on August 24th, 2016 in early morning at about 4:00 am local time 1000GMT), Turkey's army and international coalition forces started an operation to drive Islamic State jihadists out of a key Syrian border town, Jarablus.

Turkish F-16 jets dropped bombs on IS targets in at least 63 different locations with the supports from American air-strikes. This is the first such assault since a November crisis with Russia sparked by the downing of one of Moscow's warplanes by the Turkish air force, the private NTV television reported.

The state-run news agency Anadolu and Turkish television said a small contingent of Special Forces travelled a few kilometers into Syria to secure the area before a possible operation.

Broadcaster CNN-Turk reported that Turkish artillery hit 63 targets in Syria

On August 22nd 2016, ISIS sent a boy bomber to kill 50 and injured at least other 100 persons at a Wedding party in Turkey (http://www.vietpressusa.com/2016/08/isis-child-suicide-bomber-kills-50-at.html). IS also fired many mortar rounds to the Turkish border town of Karkamis on Tuesday. These disturbances caused Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to prompt the army destroy jihadist positions on Syrian soil with artillery strikes and deploy a war on IS in Syria territory.

Before this operation, US Vice President Joe Biden had a meeting and agreed with Turkish Government that US Army will joint this operation and US declares not to support Kurdish fighters in Syria if they cross the river  to enter Turkey.

With the support from the US Government, Turkish tanks entered northern Syria on Wednesday to help Syrian rebels clear ISIS from a border town, Turkish state media reported -- a move that follows recent attacks that the republic blames on terror groups.

By Wednesday evening, the Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army had captured the town, Jarablus, which is less than a kilometer from Turkey and the last major community ISIS had held on the Syrian-Turkish border, Turkey's semiofficial Anadolu agency reported.

Turkey's incursion into Syrian territory is part of a larger effort to battle not only ISIS, but also Kurdish fighters in northern Syria that Ankara opposes, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

 A US defense official told CNN the anti-ISIS coalition has conducted eight airstrikes in support of the Jarablus operation. The strikes were conducted using unmanned and manned aircraft, including A-10s and F-16s. The fight includes US-trained fighters known as the Vetted Syrian Opposition and Turkish forces.

Strikes were conducted against ISIS fighters and mortar positions, the official said.

The United States believes the ISIS fighters in Jarablus number in the hundreds.
There are no US boots on the ground in Jarablus, said the US official, adding, "We've been in communication with the Turks about the operation."
The official said the campaign is "very significant."
"This is a critical location because of the foreign fighter flow" from Europe and elsewhere, as well as helping stem the flow of fighters leaving Syria and Iraq.

Another senior US official told CNN's Barbara Starr the US assessment is that Turkey's cross-border action is largely about trying to stop Kurdish action. "The Turks never cared about Jarablus until the Kurds wanted to get there," the official said.
The operation -- dubbed Euphrates Shield, according to Anadolu -- came two days after Turkish artillery units started shelling ISIS positions in Jarablus. That followed a recent mortar attack on residential areas in Karkamis, a town on the Turkish side of the border.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country will "fully support" operations against ISIS positions in Jarablus.

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