“From Azaz to Jarablus, [57 miles] of our border has been completely secured. All the terrorist organisations are pushed back, they are gone”, Yildirim said, speaking at a dinner with non-government organizations in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
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The advance effectively seals the extremist group’s self-styled caliphate off from the outside word, shutting down key supply lines used to bring in foreign fighters, weapons and ammunition.
An Observatory statement said “IS has lost contact with the outside world after losing the remaining border villages between the Sajur river and [the village of] al-Rai”.
Together they appear to have driven Islamic State from all the areas along the Turkish border.
On Aug. 13, USA -backed Syrian rebels, led by the Kurdish militia known as the YPG, took control of Manbij from Islamic State, cutting a major supply route between Raqqa, the extremists’ de facto capital in Syria, and the Turkish border.
SANA said “Syrian army air force carried out intensive air strikes against gatherings and fortifications of Jaish al-Fateh terrorists in Aleppo countryside, destroying a number of their vehicles and killing scores of them and injuring others”.
These Turkish incursions mark a new phase in Operation Euphrates Shield, a campaign launched last month to improve security and clear the Sunni terror group from the border region.
Yildirim on September 4 defended his country’s intervention in Syria, pointing to their long shared border.
“We will continue our operations (in Syria) until we fully guarantee security of life and property for our citizens and the security of our border…”
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries needed a common approach to all terrorist acts and organizations after talks with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China’s Hangzhou.
Turkey’s announcement came a day after rebel forces ran through several villages seemingly absent of Islamic State militants.
Earlier Sunday, US President Barack Obama suggested an agreement was in sight. The Observatory said three people were killed.
Syrian forces laid siege to rebel strongholds in the war-torn city of Aleppo, leaving about 250,000 people cut off from the outside world once again. The city has been contested since the summer of 2012.
Operating with support from Russian Federation and Iran, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad intends to recapture all of Aleppo from the rebel fighters.
State TV quoted an unnamed military official as saying that troops are now in full control of the military academies south of Aleppo and are “chasing the remnant of terrorists”.
Now there are 250,000 civilians living in the areas of Aleppo controlled by terror group ISIS. Two hours before, the Observatory had told The Independent: “There is only 4-6km still under Isis control at the border, just two villages and a farm, and after that they [FSA] will control the whole area”.
As Russia and the USA struggle to reach a ceasefire deal in Syria, fighting rages on.
Since the Syrian civil war erupted, getting a grip of borders among sub-state actors is the main driving power of the shooting-war; therefore, the borders are amenable to Syrian unrest have been changing hands many times between opposition groups. Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to bolster President Bashar Assad’s forces. Moreover, the U.S.is capable of reshuffling all the cards to manage all the actors acting in the battlefield and manipulating public opinion in the eyes of the worldwide community.
Syria Democratic Forces female fighters embrace each other in the city of Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria, August 10, 2016.
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“We’re not there yet”, Obama told reporters after a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Hangzhou.
