The complex alliances in Middle Eastern conflicts took another turn Monday, as Turkish forces targeted Kurds who have been fighting ISIS in northern Syria, even as Turkey and the U.S. were negotiating plans to intensify the battle against the terror group. The Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, told the Associated Press that the Sunday night shelling on the border village of Til Findire targeted one of their vehicles. It said Til Findire is east of the border town of Kobani, where the Kurds handed a major defeat to ISIS earlier this year. The YPG did not say in its Monday statement whether there were casualties in the shelling. A Turkish official said the military was only returning fire -- in line with Turkey's rules of engagement -- and that the campaign does not include the YPG. "The Syrian Kurds are not a target of the operations. Our operations only target IS in Syria and PKK in Iraq," the official said. The Turkish official said authorities were "investigating claims that the Turkish military engaged positions held by forces other than ISIS." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of rules that bar officials from speaking to journalists without authorization. With the help of U.S. airstrikes, the Kurds have proven to be among the most effective ground forces against ISIS. But their advance across northeastern Syria in recent months has alarmed Ankara, which fears they could revive a decades-long insurgency in pursuit of statehood. Syria's main Kurdish fighting force is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and maintains bases in remote parts of northern Iraq.
