Turkey Returns Fire on Kurdish YPG

Turkish forces retaliated with artillery fire overnight and destroyed Kurdish YPG militia targets after YPG fighters opened fire on Turkey-backed forces in northern Syria, the Turkish military said on Wednesday. The United States supports the YPG in the fight against the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group in Syria, despite repeated protests from NATO ally Turkey that considers the Syrian Kurdish fighters as terrorists and fears their advance will inflame a Kurdish insurgency at home, AP reported. The Turkish Army said YPG machine-gun fire on Tuesday evening targeted Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army elements in the Maranaz area south of the town of Azaz in northern Syria. "Fire support vehicles in the region were used to retaliate in kind against the harassing fire and the identified targets were destroyed/neutralized," the military statement said. The boom of artillery fire could be heard from the nearby Turkish border town of Kilis, broadcaster Haberturk said. Turkey was angered by a US decision last month to arm the YPG as part of the battle for IS's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.  Ankara considers YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is outlawed in Turkey and is also considered a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.