Turkish forces shell border town and ISIS outpost in third day of anti-ISIS offensive.

Turkish tanks entered northern Syria on Wednesday to clear ISIS from a Syrian border town, Turkish state media reported -- a move that follows recent attacks in southern Turkey that
the republic blames on terror groups.

Turkey's incursion into Syrian territory is part of a larger effort to battle not only ISIS but also Kurdish fighters in northern Syria that Ankara opposes, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Turkish tanks and allied Syrian rebels move along the border Wednesday.
"(Wednesday's operation) started in the north of Syria against terror groups which constantly threaten our country, like (ISIS) and the PYD," Erdogan said, referring to a Syrian Kurdish opposition political party.

The ground incursion is immediately focused on clearing ISIS from the Syrian town of Jarablus, according to Turkey's semiofficial Anadolu agency.
It lies along the west bank of the Euphrates River, less than a kilometer from Turkey, and is the last major town held by ISIS on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Pictures distributed by Agence France-Presse showed tanks rolling near the border Wednesday, just west of Jarablus. Turkish special forces units are also operating along the border, CNN Turk reported.

Turkish artillery units and war planes belonging to the US-led coalition pounded Jarablus on Wednesday. The Turkish military also is working with Ankara-backed Syrian rebels, who captured a Syrian village just west of Jarablus, Anadolu reported, citing military sources.

The operation -- dubbed Euphrates Shield, according to Anadolu -- came two days after Turkish artillery units started shelling ISIS positions in Jarablus. That followed a recent mortar attack on residential areas in Karkamis, a town on the Turkish side of the border.

The move also came after a bombing Saturday night in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, that killed 54 people at a wedding celebration. The bombing, which Turkey blames on ISIS, killed 54 people -- the deadliest in a string of blasts across the nation this year.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that his country will "fully support" operations against ISIS positions in Jarabulus.
Troops will create a safe zone of 90 by 40 kilometers (55 by 25 miles) for refugees between the towns of Marea and Jarablus, Turkish media said.

Smoke billows after a Turkish airstrike Wednesday on Jarablus, Syria.
Interior Minister Efkan Ala, in an interview with state media, said "we are working together with coalition and moderate opposition. Turkey will not allow terrorist organizations next to us to threaten Turkey. What is indispensable for Turkey is the territorial unity of Syria."

Meanwhile, US Vice President Joe Biden arrived Wednesday in Ankara, the Turkish capital, where he was scheduled to meet with Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Syrian government condemns move
The Syrian foreign ministry, representing a government that has lost territory to ISIS and other opposition groups in a five-year civil war, condemned "this blatant breach to its sovereignty" by Turkey, Syria's state news agency reported.

"Fighting terrorism on Syrian territory from any side should have been coordinated with Syrian government and the Syrian ... army that has been fighting in these battles for five years," the ministry said.
Turkey had vowed to eradicate ISIS from its border regions in the wake of Saturday's deadly bombing in Gaziantep.

"Our border must be completely cleansed of Daesh," Cavusoglu said in televised remarks Monday, referring to ISIS by another name.
Turkey's battle with Kurdish fighters
Turkey's government signaled Wednesday that its offensive will not only target ISIS but also the Syrian Kurdish YPG -- the military wing of the Democratic Union Party, or PYD.

Turkey and the YPG share a common enemy in ISIS. Kurds are a large ethnic minority in Syria, and they have been a US ally in the fight against ISIS there, playing a major role in driving the terror group out of the northern Syrian city of Manbij earlier this month.

But Turkey is determined to keep the Kurdish YPG fighters from establishing Kurdish control of the border area on the Syrian side should ISIS be pushed out.

Turkey says the YPG is linked to Turkey's own Kurdish insurgents, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, who have been blamed for deadly attacks in the country since a ceasefire crumbled last year.

Now it's in Manbij, the YPB has its sights on the border city of Jarablus -- 40 kilometers (25 miles) to the north. The YPG has been eager to drive ISIS out and to remove the terror group's access to resupply of materiel and fighters from Turkey.