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Hacen informes de siria, este es un extracto de la ultima actualizacion del conflicto YPG - Al-Nusra del norte en Ras al-Ain (ciudad en el borde de la frontera Sirio-Turco)
Not to be ignored, Ankara is definitely making strenuous efforts to ignite the Turkish-Syrian border.
On September 16, 2013, during the afternoon (local time), fighting between the Syrian army and jihadist forces attempting to withdraw back from the Idlib area across the Turkish border into the Hatay province escalated. The Syrian forces, backed and guided by one or two Mi-17 helicopters, were in hot pursuit after the jihadists. Several Turkish F-16s were scrambled from the Malatya air base to patrol over the area. According to the Turkish military, around 16:00 (local time), one Mi-17 strayed about 2 km across the Turkish border in the Yayladagi district of Hatay province. The Syrian military insists the Mi-17 was on the border line if it crossed the border at all, and if so then it was by a few meters only. Two F-16s immediately closed in and fired a few air-to-air missiles at the Mi-17 and shot it down.
According to the Turkish military, the helicopter exploded in mid-air. According to the Syrians, the Mi-17 made an emergency landing on the border line. (There are disputes whether it came down on the Turkish or Syrian side.) According to the Syrian military, two of the aircrew were seen emerging from the helicopter alive. The Turkish military insists the two jumped by parachute and landed safely on the ground. Both the Turkish and the Syrian military agree that the two aircrew were immediately surrounded and summarily killed by jihadist fighters. Meanwhile, the jihadist forces withdrew safely across the border into Turkish territory.
Meanwhile, in the early morning of September 16, 2013, the Turkish military committed the newly-formed jihadist brigade called Katibat al-Taliban to saving the Jabhat al-Nusra forces just across the border. In recent days, the Jabhat al-Nusra forces attempted once again to retake the town of Ras al-Ain on the Syrian border, just across from Turkey’s Ceylanpinar district in Sanliurfa, from the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) forces holding it since July 2013. Although Turkish artillery provided fire support to the Jabhat al-Nusra forces, they failed to push the PYD defenders. Fighting was heavy, and large numbers of jihadist casualties were transported in Turkish ambulances to hospitals in Urfa, Turkey. Hence, the Katibat al-Taliban was committed to battle in a desperate effort to save the Jabhat al-Nusra from defeat. The Katibat al-Taliban is comprised almost exclusively of Kurdish jihadists, including ex-PKK fighters who became Islamists in Turkish jails and were offered amnesty and $1,000 if they joined the new unit. The Katiba is controlled by Turkish Military Intelligence and is commanded by Turkish jihadists (both Turks and Kurds).
In the early afternoon (local time), the PYD forces defeated both the Jabhat al-Nusra and Katibat al-Taliban forces. The PYD launched a major counterattack from inside Ras al-Ain and pushed the jihadists toward the Turkish border. The PYD’s thrust continued despite heavy fire from Turkish artillery just across the border. Hence, three F-16s were scrambled from Diyarbakir airbase. The F-16s were fully loaded with air-to-ground ordnance. According to the Turkish military, the F-16s were dispatched to conduct reconnaissance flights over the Turkish-Syrian border in order to ensure that “the intensified clashes between PYD militants and Jabhat al-Nusra fighters” did not “stray across our border”. According to the Syrian-Kurdish leadership, the F-16s bombed the PYD’s forces and positions in order to compel the PYD to not only stop the pushing back of the Jabhat al-Nusra and Katibat al-Taliban forces, but withdraw from the border area and the town of Ras al-Ain.
After the Turkish bombing, the PYD forces stopped their counterattack and withdrew back into their fortified positions inside Ras al-Ain. Fire ended by nightfall but both sides described the situation in the entire border area as very tense.
