Turkey’s military struck dozens of ISIL and Kurdish YPG militia targets in Syria over the last 24 hours, depriving both groups of the ability to move around, the army said Monday, as its operation there entered a third month.
Backed by Turkish tanks, special forces and airstrikes, militants fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army crossed into northern Syria on Aug. 24 and took control of the border town of Jarablus from ISIL largely unopposed.
In the latest moves in the operation, dubbed “Euphrates Shield,” strikes by “fire support vehicles” hit 27 ISIL targets and 19 belonging to the YPG, leaving both groups “without maneuvering capacity,” the written statement said.
President Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday the Turkish-backed forces would press on to the ISIS-held town of al-Bab, emphasizing Ankara’s drive to sweep its militants and Syrian Kurdish fighters from territory near its border.
The Syrian military said the presence of Turkish troops on Syrian soil was unacceptable and a “dangerous escalation and flagrant breach of Syria’s sovereignty.”
Source: Reuters
