Turkey’s commandos moved against Kurdish fighters last night after the artillery and air force pounded northern Syria with a barrage of shelling, sending thousands fleeing.
Video footage released by Turkey’s Defence Ministry shows ‘hero’ commandos moving through fields under cover of darkness and firing rounds after Operation Peace Spring was launched on Wednesday afternoon.
The invasion has been widely condemned around the world. Terrified residents were seen fleeing on foot, by car and piling rickshaws high with their possessions as they left their homes – a grim echo of how they sought refuge from the Islamic State only a few years before.
Trump – who ordered American troops out of the area – said Turkey’s incursion into the area was a ‘bad idea’ and said that Washington ‘does not endorse this attack.’
In the statement, Trump added that Turkey had committed to ‘ensuring no humanitarian crisis takes place – and we will hold them to this commitment.’
Turkey says it intends to create a ‘safe zone’ that would push Kurdish militia away from its border and eventually allow the repatriation of up to two million Syrian refugees.
Turkey’s defence ministry said today they had struck 181 targets east of the Euphrates River since the incursion started.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – who until now were a key US ally in the fight against ISIS – said Turkish warplanes had caused ‘huge panic’ when they attacked the Kurdish-held territory, and claimed the bombardments had killed and wounded civilians.
Video footage released by Turkey’s Defence Ministry shows ‘hero’ commandos moving through fields under cover of darkness and firing rounds after Operation Peace Spring was launched on Wednesday afternoon
Night vision footage shows the green flare of gunfire as the ‘hero’ commandos move through the rural Syrian border after the artillery and war planes decimated positions
Turkey says it intends to create a ‘safe zone’ that would push Kurdish militia away from its border and eventually allow the repatriation of up to two million Syrian refugees (pictured: a commando is seen rushing through long grass with his comrades as they fire rounds last night)
Terrified residents were seen fleeing on foot, by car and piling rickshaws high with their possessions as they left their homes – a grim echo of how they sought refuge from the Islamic State only a few years before (pictured: civilians pack into a truck as smoke billows in the background)
Civilians flee with their belongings amid Turkish bombardment on Syria’s northeastern town of Ras al-Ain in the Hasakeh province on Wednesday evening
Men, women and children pack their belongings into vehicles as they prepare to flee their homes at the town of Ras al Ain last night
A man and two boys perch on top of their belongings packed into the back of a truck as they flee their homes on the Syrian border while smoke billows across the horizon
Turkish soldiers riding in a tank roll towards the Syrian border yesterday evening as the first ground troops prepared to pour into Kurdish territory over the border
Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad after Turkish bombings, in a picture taken from the Turkish side of the border near Akcakale in the Sanliurfa province
Turkish Armed Forces’ armoured vehicles and armored personnel carriers, carrying Turkish commandos move towards to Turkey’s Syrian border as they are being dispatched to support the units at the border, in Kilis yesterday
Turkish soldiers stand guard at Akcakale, on the Turkish side of the border, a short distance from Tell Abaid in Syria amid reports that a small force had moved into the country
Turkish Armed Forces’ armoured vehicles and armoured personnel carriers were seen in convoy towards the Syrian border at Turkey’s Hatay yesterday
SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said on Twitter: ‘Turkish warplanes have started to carry out air strikes on civilian areas.’
Pictures and video footage from the ground appeared to show civilians desperately fleeing the area as clouds of smoke rose from the positions targeted by Turkish jets.
There were signs of panic in the streets of Ras al-Ayn- one of the Syrian towns under attack with residential areas close to the borders.
Near the town of Qamishli, plumes of smoke rose from an area close to the border after activists reported explosions nearby.
Bali reported this morning that the SDF had repelled Turkish forces ground attacks. ‘No advance as of now,’ he tweeted.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor that has activists throughout the country, said Turkish troops tried to push ahead on several fronts under the cover of airstrikes and artillery shelling but made no tangible progress. The Observatory said that since Turkey began its operation, seven civilians have been killed.
Tanks and troops had been massing on the border since Trump announced that American troops would step aside.
Hours after the assault was launched, President Trump tweeted that US troops should ‘never have been’ in the Middle East in the first place.
In Damascus, Syria’s deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad warned that the Assad government ‘will defend all Syrian territory and will not accept any occupation of any land or iota of the Syrian soil’.
Civilians ride a pickup truck as smoke billows following Turkish bombardment in the northeastern town of Ras al-Ain in Syria’s Hasakeh province along the Turkish border on Wednesday
Turkish commandos in armoured vehicles were seen travelling towards the Syrian border on Wednesday as they are being dispatched to support border units in Hatay, Turkey
Syrian state media and a Kurdish official separately said bombing hit the town of Ras al-Ain in the northeast along the Turkish border that will be supported by artillery and howitzer fire.
Earlier, Turkish television reports said Turkish jets had bombed Syrian Kurdish positions across the border from Turkey.
In the face of the onslaught, Kurdish authorities announced a general mobilisation, urging all civilians to ‘head to the border with Turkey… to resist during this delicate historical moment’.
Kurdish leaders said they would hold their erstwhile US ally and the whole international community responsible for any ‘humanitarian catastrophe’.
In Ras al-Ain, Kurdish-led security forces set up checkpoints and stockpiled tyres to set alight to blur the vision of Turkish military pilots.
Ras al-Ain was one of the places from which US troops withdrew on Monday.
‘We will not leave this land,’ said Kaws Seem, a 32-year-old Ras al-Ain resident.
‘War has been chasing us for years, and everyday Erdogan threatens us with a new attack,’ he added.
A woman walking as smoke billows behind her following Turkish bombardment in the northeastern town of Ras al-Ain in Syria’s Hasakeh province along the Turkish border yesterday
From the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria on Wednesday, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, smoke billowed from a fire inside Syria during bombardment by Turkish forces
Large explosions rocked Ras al Ain, just across the border from the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar. The sound of planes could he heard above and smoke was rising from buildings in Ras al Ain
It was expected that Ras al-Ain and Tal Abad would be the focus of the first assaults.
Kurdish forces have dug trenches and tunnels in both areas, covering streets with metal canopies to block the cameras of Turkish drones.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he had ‘serious concerns’ about Turkey’s military action.
He said: ‘This risks destabilising the region, exacerbating humanitarian suffering, and undermining the progress made against Daesh which should be our collective focus.
‘Turkey has shown considerable generosity in hosting so many Syrian refugees.
‘But we will not support plans for returns until the conditions are in place for a voluntary and safe return home.’
Prior to the invasion Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, two of the four British ISIS soldiers known as the ‘Beatles’ were taken into US custody.
There were fears the men would escape from Syrian jail after a Turkish invasion.
They beheaded seven American, British and Japanese journalists and aid workers and a group of Syrian soldiers, boasting of the butchery in videos released to the world.
Erdogan tweeted yesterday that his armed forces along with the Syrian National Army had launched ‘Operation Peace Spring’ to ‘prevent the creation of a terror corridor’ along the Turkish border.
He added the aim to is to eliminate threats from the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and the Islamic State militants, and enable the return of Syrian refugees in Turkey after the formation of a ‘safe zone’ in the area.
The Turkish president wrote on Twitter: ‘Our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to the area. We will preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and liberate local communities from terrorists.’
A Turkish official confirmed the military action after explosions rocked the town of Ras al Ain in northeast Syria, on the border with Turkey.
Earlier Wednesday Syria vowed to respond to a planned Turkish invasion of the northeast of the country, saying it condemned Ankara’s ‘hostile intentions’.
The Syrian foreign ministry said the ‘hostile actions’ of the Turkish government revealed its ‘expansionist ambitions,’ saying an attack on Syrian territory ‘could not be justified’ and pledged to ‘confront a Turkish assault’.