Behrouz Mehri—AFP
NATO allies want to work together to oust the militant group from its de facto capital of Raqa in Syria.
Turkey on Wednesday said it was in favor of a joint operation with the United States to oust Islamic State jihadists from their de facto capital of Raqa in northern Syria.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments published Wednesday in Turkish media he had agreed with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in China to do “what is necessary” to drive I.S. out of Raqa. Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli then said after a cabinet meeting that Turkey looked “favorably” on such an operation and talks were in progress between the two countries’ militaries.
“Raqa is the most important center of Daesh,” Erdogan told Turkish journalists onboard his plane as he returned from China. “Obama wants to do something together especially on the issue of Raqa,” he said. “I said there would be no problem from our perspective. I said ‘our soldiers should come together and discuss, then what is necessary will be done’,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet daily, without giving further details,
Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime were pushed out of Raqa, which lies on the Euphrates River, in 2013, making it the first provincial capital in Syria to fall out of government control. I.S. rapidly infiltrated the city, which is strategically located near the Turkish border, and declared a caliphate in 2014.
Ousting I.S. from the city would be a turning point in the conflict and mark a huge blow to the jihadists.
Canikli confirmed that the Raqa issue was on the agenda but emphasized that no final decision on an operation had been taken yet. “Mr. President [Erdogan] told Obama that as Turkey we look favorably carrying out such a joint operation,” he said. He said both sides agreed to hold technical talks and “as of now talks between militaries are continuing.”
The new focus on Raqa came two weeks after Turkey launched an ambitious operation inside Syria, sending tanks and special forces to back up Syrian opposition fighters and remove I.S. jihadists and Kurdish militia from its frontier. Ankara-backed rebels seized the town of Jarabulus from I.S. militants within hours on the first day of the operation.
Loaded with luggage and possessions, hundreds of civilians began returning to Jarabulus on Wednesday, forming long queues at the border gate outside the Turkish town of Karkamis, an AFP photographer said.
Canikli said that a 772 square kilometer area had been cleared from I.S. fighters and was now under control of pro-Ankara fighters. Turkey would supply electricity and water to Jarabulus by Monday, he added. He said the operation against I.S. “could gain some degree of depth” with Turkey still pressing for a no-fly zone on the Syrian side of the border.
But Turkey on Tuesday sustained its biggest loss of life in the operation to date, with three soldiers killed in an I.S. rocket attack on their tanks. One soldier had been killed in an attack blamed on Kurdish militia last month. With the offensive still pressing on, the Turkish army said six more villages south of the town of Al-Rai had been retaken from I.S. jihadists on Tuesday, in a statement carried by state-run news agency Anadolu.
Turkey has been alarmed by U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which Ankara sees as a “terrorist” group linked to its own Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging a bloody campaign against the Turkish state.
“We need to show we are present in the region,” said Erdogan. “If we take a step back, terror groups like Daesh, PKK, PYD or YPG will settle there.”
Erdogan said that after the G20 he was optimistic of the chances of a ceasefire between opposition forces and Assad’s regime, in time for the Eid al-Azha Muslim holiday, which gets underway next week.
Canikli said that 110 enemy forces had been killed in the Turkish operation so far, including both I.S. and YPG fighters. It is not possible to independently verify the figures.