Turkey sends tanks into northern Syria

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• From the sectionEurope

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Image captionSmoke billows after an air strike on Jarablus

Turkish tanks and other vehicles have rolled across the Syrian border after heavy shelling of an area held by so-called Islamic State (IS).

Military sources told Turkish media 70 targets in the Jarablus area had been destroyed by artillery and rocket strikes, and 12 by air strikes.

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels who are following the advance say they have entered the town of Jarablus itself.

The operation is aimed against both IS and Kurdish fighters.

Turkey shelled Syrian Kurdish forces in the region this week, determined not to let them fill the vacuum if IS leaves.

US Vice-President Joe Biden warned Kurdish forces in Syria they would lose US support if they advanced west of the River Euphrates.

"We have made it absolutely clear... that they must go back across the river," he said. "They cannot, will not and under no circumstances get American support if they do not keep that commitment. Period."

Making the highest-ranking visit to Ankara by a Western official since the failed Turkish coup on 15 July, Mr Biden also sought to dispel any doubts about America's solidarity with its Nato ally.

Looking for a reset: Barbara Plett Usher, BBC state department correspondent

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Image captionMr Biden (right) was given a tour of damage to the Turkish parliament during the coup

Joe Biden is in Turkey to try and reset relations strained by the fallout from last month's failed coup attempt. Turks felt they did not get a clear message of support from Washington so Mr Biden is doing everything he can to send one - including deliberate comparisons to the trauma Americans suffered after the 9/11 attacks.

The Turkish government is also upset by America's alliance with Kurds in northern Syria. It believes they are linked to Turkish Kurds who are battling Ankara. The US finds the Syrian Kurds an effective force against Islamic State militants but the Turks fear the alliance is helping them gain territory for an autonomous zone along the Turkish border.

A US official travelling with Mr Biden admitted that some Kurdish fighters had pushed further north than they should have and said Turkey's offensive on IS in Jarablus was probably partly to create a buffer zone against any further Kurdish advance.

But he said the US had "put a lid" on any more such moves, creating a breathing space for the Jarablus operation, which the US supports and to which it is ready to contribute.

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Slow progress

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in a speech in Ankara: "At 04:00 [01:00 GMT] our forces began an operation against the Daesh [IS] and PYD [Kurdish Democratic Union Party] terror groups."

Operation Euphrates Shield was aimed at "putting an end" to problems on the border, he said.

Between nine and 12 tanks crossed the border, followed by pick-up trucks believed to be carrying Turkish-backed Syrian rebels from the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

The FSA said progress was slow because of mines planted by IS fighters in the area. There were no immediate reports of fighting on the way in.

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionAt least a dozen tanks were involved

Image copyrightEPA

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionFighters said to be from the Free Syrian Army followed the tanks in pick-up trucks

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionA coach said to be carrying Syrian rebels was spotted by reporters in Karkamis

Turkey has vowed to "completely cleanse" IS from its border region, blaming the group for a bomb attack on a wedding that killed at least 54 people in Gaziantep on Saturday.

This is Turkey's first known ground incursion into Syria since a brief operation to relocate the tomb of Suleyman Shah, a revered Ottoman figure, in February of last year.

The air strikes are Turkey's first inside Syria since the downing of a Russian jet in November. Moscow and Ankara only mended ties in June after punitive Russian sanctions.

'Buffer zone'

An unnamed senior US official in Washington told BBC News before the start of the Turkish operation that it was "partly to create a buffer against the possibility of the Kurds moving forward".

Fighters from the Syrian Kurd YPG militia - the military wing of the PYD - led the battle to drive IS out of the strategic crossroads town of Manbij this month.

Responding to news of the Turkish advance, PYD leader Saleh Moslem tweeted that Turkey was now in the "Syrian quagmire" and would be defeated like IS.

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Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Turkish-Kurdish rebel group fighting for autonomy since the 1980s, but the YPG is backed by the US as one of the most effective forces battling IS.

Earlier, President Erdogan said he would press Vice-President Biden for the extradition of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the coup attempt.

At a joint news conference with Turkish PM Binali Yildirim, Mr Biden said of Mr Gulen: "We have no interest whatsoever in protecting anyone who has done harm but we need to meet the minimum legal standard of our law."

Paying tribute to those Turks killed fighting the coup plotters, the US vice-president said: "The United States of America did not have any foreknowledge of what befell you on the 15th."

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionMr Biden (right) met Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara

Source: BBC NEWS