Turkey prime minister slams western 'lies' on Syria operation

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yidirim has hit back at some media reports in Europe that Ankara's military operation in north Syria is focused on tackling Kurdish fighters rather than rooting out Islamic State militants.

Yildirim defended Ankara's military campaign in northern Syria against claims the operation was not targeting the Islamic State group but the country's regional Kurdish rivals.

"They [western media] either know nothing about the world, or else their job is to report a bare-faced lie," Yildirim said in response to a reporter's question on an article published under the headline Turkey's Syria operation - IS is the pretext, the Kurds the target.

"Our soldiers' mission is to ensure our border security and the life and property of our citizens. The news apart from that is just a lie," he added.

"You tell lies that Turkey is weak in the fight against ISIS (IS) but when we save innocent lives from ISIS you go and write this," he fumed.

Earlier this week, the Turkish army and US-backed coalition forces launched an operation to clear the Syrian border town of Jarablus of IS militants, Turkish officials said.

On Thursday, Turkey shelled Kurdish positions in north Syria and opened fire on Syrian-Kurdish "militants" in an attempt to force the group to retreat.

Turkey sees the People's Protection Units [YPG] militia as "terror groups" bent on carving out an autonomous region in Syria.

Ankara's hostility to the YPG puts it at loggerheads with its NATO ally, the United States, which works with the group on the ground in the fight against IS.

US Vice President Joe Biden visited Turkey on Wednesday, and made it clear that Washington has strictly told the YPG not to move west of the Euphrates and would no longer receive US support if they did.

A Turkish official said on Thursday that the Syria ground operation had been in the works for over two years before launching an offensive this week. It was previously stalled by the military and various international disputes.

The official said Washington had questions over the feasibility of Turkey's plan to liberate Jarabulus, which was discussed with coalition allies in June last year.

"Their basic argument was that the number of moderate rebels was simply not enough to perform the task of liberating Jarabulus and other parts of northern Syria."