Turkey shells Kurdish forces in northern Syria

Turkish artillery on Thursday shelled targets of the militia of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party [PYD] in northern Syria after they advanced in violation of an accord with the United States, state media said.

Turkish forces opened fire on PYD "militants" from 6:00 pm local time after intelligence showed they were advancing despite a promise by the US that the Kurdish militia would retreat, the state-run Anadolu agency said.

It quoted security sources as saying that the Turkish military would continue to intervene against the PYD until it began to retreat.

Turkey had on Wednesday launched a major ground incursion into Syria aimed at ousting jihadists from the border area but also preventing any advance of the Kurdish militia.

The Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army [FSA] seized control of the Syrian border town of Jarabulus on Wednesday after Islamic State [IS] militants abandoned their posts.

Turkish state media, however, has said that the PYD forces have at the same time "resumed their movements."

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It said that the PYD had seized a total of seven villages in Syria since Wednesday.

Turkey sees the PYD and its 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, visiting Turkey on Wednesday, made clear that Washington has strictly told the YPG not to move west of the Euphrates and would no longer receive American support if they did.

A Turkish official said on Thursday that the Syria ground operation had been in works for over two years before launching an offensive this week, but it was 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."