Turkey wants to 'cleanse' strip of territory on Syrian border
Turkey wants to clear Islamic State from a 90-km (56-mile) stretch of territory on the Syrian side of its border, a week after it launched an incursion that has strained ties with the United States.
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Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said the goal was to drive Islamic State from a 90-km strip of land along the border with Turkey, which has been buffeted by a spate of bombings, blamed on the group, that have killed scores.
"Starting from Jarablus, the cleansing of this region is our priority," Kalin told a news briefing. "We have already cleansed 400 square km successfully."
Turkey has long said it wants a "buffer zone" in the area, although it has not used the term during this incursion.
As well as driving out the ultra-hardline Islamists, it also wants to prevent Kurdish forces taking territory that will let them join up cantons they control in northeast and northwest Syria.
Turkey frets that seizing such a broad swathe of territory could embolden Kurdish PKK insurgents on Turkish soil.
