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Turkey launches new artillery strikes at IS in Syria

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2010 file photo, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, shakes hands with then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at al-Shaab presidential palace in Damascus, Syria. For five years fighting has raged in Syria -- a globally resonant nightmare kept going in part by the insistence of Bashar Assad’s opponents that he must go even though they were failing to dislodge him from power. Now an inflection point may finally be at hand, with increasingly important Turkey suggesting Assad could play a role in an unspecified transition period. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2010 file photo, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, shakes hands with then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at al-Shaab presidential palace in Damascus, Syria. For five years fighting has raged in Syria -- a globally resonant nightmare kept going in part by the insistence of Bashar Assad’s opponents that he must go even though they were failing to dislodge him from power. Now an inflection point may finally be at hand, with increasingly important Turkey suggesting Assad could play a role in an unspecified transition period. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi, File) FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2010 file photo, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, shakes hands with then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at al-Shaab presidential palace in Damascus, Syria. For five years fighting has raged in Syria -- a globally resonant nightmare kept going in part by the insistence of Bashar Assad’s opponents that he must go even though they were failing to dislodge him from power. Now an inflection point may finally be at hand, with increasingly important Turkey suggesting Assad could play a role in an unspecified transition period. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi, File)

By Associated Press 2 min read

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkey’s artillery shelled Islamic State group targets across the border in Syria for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, a senior Turkish official said, amid reports that Turkey-backed Syrian rebels are preparing an offensive against an IS-held border town in northern Syria.

The Ankara official said the Turkish shelling came after mortar rounds, believed to have been fired by the militants from the Syrian town of Jarablus, landed on Turkish territory. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations, did not provide further details.

Turkey has increased security measures at its border opposite the Islamic State-held Jarablus, deploying tanks and armored personnel carriers in recent days. Syrian activists have said that hundreds of Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters have gathered in the Turkish border area of Karkamis in preparation for an attack on Jarablus.

Ankara is concerned about the growing power of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces, who it says are linked to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey.

In Syria, a Kurdish-led group known as the Syria Democratic Forces earlier this month liberated the nearby town of Manbij from the Islamic State group, triggering concerns in Ankara that they would seize the entire border strip with Turkey.