A day after Turkish tanks crossed the border into northern Syria, a US-backed largely Kurdish army has moved east of the Euphrates River on Thursday, according to a U.S. military spokesman.
Turkey had called on the Kurds to leave Arab lands in Syria and return east of the Euphrates to traditional Kurdish territory.
The United States is supporting the Turkish military operation with airstrikes and conducted at least eight against ISIS targets on Wednesday, according to a senior defense official.
But the US is also supporting Kurdish fighters in Syria, including a militia known as the YPG, seen as the best ground force against ISIS in Syria. Some US special operations forces have embedded with the YPG, part of the 300 US troops sent to Syria earlier this year.
Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization, the Syrian affiliate of a Kurdish separatist group in Turkey, the PKK. The State Department lists the PKK as a foreign terrorist organization. The PKK has fought a decades long insurgency against Turkey killing tens of thousands of civilians. Attacks by the PKK have increased in recent months. Turkish jets have bombed PKK positions in response, including some at training camps in northern Iraq.
The Obama administration considers the YPG and PKK separate groups.
Turkey had been calling on the Kurds to move east of the Euphrates River since a successful US-backed operation to route ISIS in Manbij, a logistics hub for the terrorist group 20 miles from Syria's border with Turkey located on the western side of the river.
Wednesday, Turkey's president said his country's military operation into northern Syria would target both ISIS and Kurdish fighters of the YPG, calling both groups terrorist organizations.
Syrian Democratic Forces, as the US-backed largely Kurdish fighting force is called, also includes some Arab fighters as well as the YPG.
Late last week, Syrian jets from President Bashar al-Assad's Air Force bombed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria with US special operations forces nearby, according to a US defense official, in another sign of the increasingly complex battlefield in Syria. US jets were sent to the area in response.
Turkey and Syria are long-time enemies.
But in recent days, Turkey has backed off calls for Assad to step down immediately, instead saying he could be part of a transitional government before leaving in the future.
Turkey's President Recep Erdogan met with Russian President Putin earlier this month in Moscow, in a sign of increasing ties between the two counties. It was the first visit since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in November.
Russia has supported the Syrian government in the past year by sending dozens of jets and attack helicopters to Syria to carry out airstrikes against rebel forces.
Turkey has long supported Syrian rebels fighting President Assad's regime forces during the five-year civil war.
The Obama administration has repeatedly called for Turkey to take more steps to seal its border with Syria to ISIS fighters.
Turkey's military operation into northern Syria Wednesday was seen as a welcomed step by senior defense officials in Washington.
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