ISTANBUL // Turkey has vowed full support in pushing ISIL out of the key Syrian border town of Jarabulus as expectations grew on Tuesday that Ankara was preparing a major offensive against the extremists.
Turkish forces also pounded the extremists in Syria with new artillery strikes after a deadly suicide bombing in the city of Gaziantep at the weekend and repeated rocket fire across the border.
Activists have said hundreds of Ankara-backed rebels were preparing an offensive against ISIL to seize control of Jarabulus, which lies opposite the Turkish town of Karkamis.
The latest developments have thrust the town of Jarablus onto centre stage in the continuing Syrian civil war, putting US-backed Kurdish forces, who have been the most effective force against ISIL in northern Syria, on track for a confrontation with Turkey over control of the town.
Jarablus is a vital supply line and the last border point that directly connects ISIL with Turkey and the outside world, and separates Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria.
The town is 33 kilometres from the town of Manbij, which was liberated from ISIL by Kurdish-led forces earlier this month. Taking over Jarablus and the ISIL-held town of Al Bab further south would be a significant step toward linking up border areas under Kurdish control east and west of the Euphrates River.
Without confirming the operation, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu pledged to give "all kinds of support" to push the militants out of Jarabulus, after Syrian rebels said they were preparing an assault from Turkish soil.
"We do not want Daesh to exist in Iraq and Syria," he said, adding that the operation was important for Turkey's security. Turkey does not want to see the Kurdish YPG militia, which already controls swathes of northern Syria, capture the strategic border town.
Deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus said that Turkey saw Jarabulus "as a national security matter".
"What we have said, since the beginning, is that having Jarabulus or any other city held by IS is unacceptable," he said.
The authorities also ordered residents to leave Karkamis and the surrounding area for safety reasons, although there was no indication this was linked to the impending operation.
Two mortar rounds fired from Jarabulus hit Karkamis while three more hit the centre of the Turkish border town of Kilis, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Turkish artillery responded by shelling ISIL positions around Jarabulus.
Abdulkadir Selvi, a well-connected columnist for the Hurriyet daily, said the Turkey-backed offensive "could begin at any moment".
The move by Ankara-backed rebels could potentially put them on collision course with the militia of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) which Ankara vehemently opposes and which also has designs on Jarabulus after seizing the strategic Manbij area in northern Syria from ISIL.
"Turkish shelling in Syria aimed to prevent the advance of troops backed by Kurds from Manbij towards Jarabulus," Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said.
He said the commander of Kurdish-dominated forces headed to Jarablus, Abdel Satar Al Jader, was also "assassinated" on Monday after announcing he planned to resist the Turkish advance. There was no confirmation from Turkish sources.
Turkey regards the PYD as a terror group, although Washington sees its YPG militia as the most effective fighting force against ISIL.
The movements have come at a critical juncture for Turkey in Syria's five-and-a-half-year war, with signs growing it is on the verge of a landmark policy shift.
Ankara has always said the ousting of president Bashar Al Assad was key to ending the conflict, putting Turkey at odds with his main supporters Iran and Russia.
However prime minister Binali Yildirim at the weekend for the first time acknowledged that Mr Al Assad was one of the "actors" in Syria and may need to stay on as part of a transition.
Mr Kurtulmus also acknowledged that the Assad regime would have to be part of final peace talks with the opposition, saying: "If there is going to be a peace table, that table must have two sides."
Turkey has been shaken by one of the bloodiest years in its modern history, with a string of attacks by ISIL and Kurdish militants and the botched July 15 coup.
The attack in Gaziantep on a Kurdish wedding party horrified the country, with the majority of the 54 victims aged under 18 and including children as young as four.
* Agence France-Presse, with additional reporting from Associated Press and Reuters
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