Islamic State (IS) militants were expelled from their last positions along the Turkish-Syrian border, Turkey said on Sunday.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said his nation’s forces and Syrian rebels had pushed back “terrorist organizations” on its southern border with Syria, depriving IS of a key transit point for recruits and supplies.
“From Azaz to Jarabulus, our 91km border has been completely secured,” Yildirim said during a televised speech while visiting the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
The news comes as Syrian government troops renewed the siege of rebel-held parts of Aleppo on Sunday.
The more than five-year conflict has become increasingly complex, involving not only regime and rebels, but international backers on both sides, Kurdish forces, extremists and now Turkey.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier “rebels and Islamist factions backed by Turkish tanks and warplanes” had taken several villages on the Turkish-Syrian border “after the IS withdrew from them, ending the IS’ presence ... on the border.”
Ankara began an operation inside Syria on Aug. 24, using tanks and war planes to back opposition fighters with special forces also providing support.
Turkey’s success is likely to deliver a blow to the Syrian Kurdish YPG, which has been gaining territory in Syria’s north after working with the US-led coalition against the extremist force.
However, Ankara considers the YPG a “terrorist” group and has been alarmed by its expansion along the border, fearing the creation of a contiguous, semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey would not allow a “terror corridor” on its southern border.
With Turkey’s rapid success in less than two weeks, his position looks stronger with territory in between the two Kurdish “cantons” of Afrin and Kobane now in the hands of Ankara-backed rebels.
The loss of the Turkish border would also deprive the IS of a key transit point for recruits and supplies, though the group continues to hold territory in both Syria and Iraq.
Syrian state media said the army and allied forces had taken an area south of Aleppo, severing the sole route left into the eastern neighborhoods held by the opposition.
“The armed forces in cooperation with their allies took full control of the military academy zone south of Aleppo and are clearing the remaining terrorists from the area,” state television said, citing a military source.
It said the advance “cut all the supply and movement routes for terrorist groups from southern Aleppo province to the eastern neighborhoods and Ramussa.”
The development leaves about 250,000 people living in rebel-controlled parts of the city cut off from the outside world once again, and would raise new fears about a humanitarian crisis in Aleppo.
Once Syria’s economic powerhouse, the city has been ravaged by the war that began with anti-government protests in March 2011.
It has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012, but in recent months regime forces slowly began to encircle the east.
In July, they severed the only road into the rebel neighborhoods, the key Castello Road running from the Turkish border in the north, creating food and fuel shortages.
The siege prompted international concern, with aid agencies urging 48-hour ceasefires to ensure humanitarian access.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese