The Syrian army said in a statement Thursday that the Turkish artillery fire targeted Syrian military positions near the city of Manbij in Aleppo province in northern Syria, state news agency SANA reported.

The Turkish shelling targeted the Syrian border corps, recently been deployed in the western countryside of Manbij to be a separation line between the Turkish forces and the Kurdish-led groups, which are in control of the city.

Russia and the Kurdish groups in northern Syria agreed recently that the Kurdish-led Manbij Military Council (MMC) should hand over areas in the western countryside of Manbij to the Syrian army, as the Turkish forces and allied rebel groups were closing in on Manbij to dislodge the MMC from that city.

Turkey has recently said that it has no problem in having the Syrian army take over Manbij as long as the Kurdish-supported groups are out.

Still, the Russian-Kurdish agreement was for giving areas west of Manbij to the Syrian army only, as part of what appeared to be a Russian plan to save the area from Turkish-Kurdish confrontation.

Meanwhile, the military statement said that many soldiers were killed in the attack, which was an attempt to undermine the progress of the Syrian army near Manbij in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo.

It stressed that the war on terror will continue and the Syrian forces will restore peace and stability to Aleppo countryside and all Syrian territories.

The Syrian army is on a crushing offensive against the positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, and recently reached the town of Khafseh, where water stations feeding Aleppo with drinking water are located.

Source: Xinhua