One soldier killed in rocket attack on Turkish tanks amid clashes between Turkey-backed Syria rebels and Kurdish YPG.
Turkish jets and artillery have targeted Kurdish forces south of the strategic town of Jarablus, according to a monitor and local sources, as Turkey continues a major military offensive inside northern Syria.
Turkey first sent tanks across the border on Wednesday as part of a two-pronged operation against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters, as well as Kurdish-led forces.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday’s air strikes and shelling hit the village of Amarneh, which was captured recently by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The strikes came as Turkish-backed Syrian rebels clashed with Kurdish fighters on the ground.
The Jarablus Military Council, which is allied with the SDF, said the air strikes in Amarneh marked an “unprecedented and dangerous escalation” after Turkish artillery shelling targeted Kurdish YPG forces, the backbone of the SDF alliance, on Friday.
The council said there were injuries, without giving any further details, but warned that the escalation threatened to “endanger the future of the region” and vowed to stand its ground.
Wladimir van Wilgenburg, an analyst based in the nearby Kurdish-controlled city of Qamishli, told Al Jazeera that the clashes had increased throughout Saturday.
“There have been reports that SDF fighters have blown up a Turkish tank. The fighting is ongoing,” he said.
Later on Saturday, one Turkish soldier and three others were wounded in a rocket attack on a Turkish tank south of Jarablus late on Saturday, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, in the military’s first fatality since the launch of its offensive to partly help Syria rebels capture Jarablus from ISIL, also known as ISIS.
Turkish military sources said the rocket was fired from territory held by the Kurdish YPG.
Earlier on Saturday, the Northern Sun Battalion, an SDF faction, had said in a statement that it was heading to “Jarablus fronts” to help the council against “threats made by factions belonging to Turkey”.