Nerves on edge at Syria-Turkey line

More U.S. troops join Kurdish forces, aggravating Ankara

This Friday, April 28, 2017 still taken from video, shows U.S. forces patrolling on a rural road in the village of Darbasiyah, in northern Syria. U.S. armored vehicles are deploying in areas in northern Syria along the tense border with Turkey, a few days after a Turkish airstrike that killed 20 U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, a Syrian war monitor and Kurdish activists said Friday.
This Friday, April 28, 2017 still taken from video, shows U.S. forces patrolling on a rural road in the village of Darbasiyah, in northern Syria. U.S. armored vehicles are deploying in areas in northern Syria along the tense border with Turkey, a few days after a Turkish airstrike that killed 20 U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, a Syrian war monitor and Kurdish activists said Friday.

ISTANBUL -- Tensions rose Saturday along the Turkish-Syrian border as both Turkey and the U.S. moved armored vehicles to the region and Turkey's leader once again demanded that the United States stop supporting the Syrian Kurdish militants there.

The relocation of Turkish troops to an area near the border with Syria came a day after U.S. troops were seen patrolling the border in Syria. Those patrols followed a Turkish airstrike against bases of Syrian Kurdish fighters, Washington's main ally in fighting Islamic State militants in Syria.

The People's Protection Units forms the backbone of the U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces.

More U.S. troops were seen Saturday in armored vehicles in Kurdish areas in Syria. Kurdish officials describe U.S. troop movement as "buffer" between them and Turkey.

But Turkey views Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units as a terrorist organization and an extension of the Kurdish militants who have been waging a three-decade-long insurgency against Turkey.

"The [People's Protection Units], and you know who's supporting them, is attacking us with mortars. But we will make those places their grave, there is no stopping," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Footage shot late Friday showed a long line of Turkish trucks carrying military vehicles driving to the border area. The private Ihlas news agency reported that the convoy was heading to southeastern Sanliurfa province from Kilis in the west. The base in the area is 30 miles from Syria's Tal Abyad, a town controlled by the Kurdish militia.

The news agency said the relocation came after Turkish officials announced the completion of a phase of a Turkish cross-border operation in Syria, adding that orce may be used against Syrian Kurdish militants "if needed."

Tensions in the border area rose last week when Turkey conducted airstrikes Tuesday against bases for the People's Protection Units in Syria and Iraq. The Turkish military said it killed at least 90 militants and wounded scores.

Kurdish officials said the U.S. patrols are monitoring the Turkish-Syrian border to prevent an increase in tensions with Turkey, a NATO member and U.S. ally.

Redur Khalil, the spokesman for the People's Protection Units in Syria, said Turkey is reinforcing its border posts opposite Tal Abyad.

Khalil said his forces were not building up in the area.

Elsewhere, airstrikes hit a center of Syria's rescuers known as the White Helmets in a rebel-held area in the country's center, killing eight volunteers, opposition activists said Saturday.

The airstrike was one of the deadliest against the rescuers, who have garnered world attention for operating in extreme conditions, pulling survivors out of recently struck areas. The volunteers have often been targeted by government airstrikes, in what are known as double-tap attacks, as they work to rescue others.

A Section on 04/30/2017

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