“There is no more Isis at the border”.
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He said: “Thank God, today, from Azaz to Jarablus, our 91km of borderline with Syria has been entirely secured”.
It completes an operation to take control of the area by the rebel Free Syrian Army, backed by a Turkish ground offensive that began at the town of Jarablus on 24 August.
Azaz is another key border city that was formerly held by ISIS.
Al-Bab, 23km south of a-Rai, has been under IS control since late 2013, and is the group’s last major holding in Aleppo province.
The London-based monitoring group said “rebels and Islamist factions backed by Turkish tanks and warplanes” had taken villages on the border “after IS withdrew from them, ending IS’s presence. on the border”.
The news comes 12 days after the Turkish army launched Operation Euphrates Shield, aimed at improving border security, supporting coalition forces, and eliminating the threat posed by terrorist organizations, especially Daesh.
Turkey was pressed into action against ISIS by the surge of suicide attacks in Turkey, as well as the terror group’s use of safe houses and “informal” financial services on Turkish soil.
“We will never allow an artificial state in Syria’s north”, he said, apparently referring to USA -backed Kurdish forces, who have taken a large swath of territory from IS along the border.
Ahmed Osman of the Sultan Murad insurgent group said he wanted to see a zone established where displaced civilians could live free from the risk of Syrian government air strikes.
That position has caused friction with Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member and a partner in anti-IS coalition.
Turkey is fighting a three-decade-old Kurdish insurgency in its southeast and fears that gains by the Syrian Kurdish YPG will embolden militants at home. Jarabulus is located 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Turkish-Syrian border.
President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday raised concern about the formation of a “terror corridor” along Turkey’s Syrian border.
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Osman also told Reuters that the Turkey-backed rebels would soon be forced to confront Kurdish militias because they had not withdrawn from the area as demanded by the United States and Turkey. The attacks were timed to coincide with the morning rush hour.
Obama didn’t detail the trouble spots although he suggested the USA has concerns about Russian Federation holding up its end of the bargain and enforcing the terms.
“We have said that if there is one more rocket here, we will destroy you”.
“In all of his meetings, he encouraged unity of effort and de-confliction between all forces fighting ISIL in northern Syria”, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile the war grinds on.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier that IS lost its last stretch after the few remaining villages it controlled were recaptured by rebels.
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The areas recaptured include the Armament and Airforce Technical College in southwestern Aleppo.
