Turkey's military launched an operation before dawn Wednesday to clear a Syrian border town from ISIS militants, and a private Turkish TV station reported that a small number of Turkish special forces had crossed into Syria as part of the operation. The operation was launched hours before U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was due in Ankara for talks that include developments in Syria. In recent days Turkey has increased security measures on its border with Syria, deploying tanks and armoured personnel carriers. Growing power of Syrian Kurdish forcesAnkara is also concerned about the growing power of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces, who it says are linked to Kurdish groups waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey. Government and Kurdish forces have shared control of Hasakeh since the early years of the Syrian war.

Source: CBC News August 24, 2016 08:33 UTC