With Turkey’s rapid success in less than two weeks, his position looks stronger with territory in between the two Kurdish “cantons” of Afrin and Kobane now in the hands of Ankara-backed rebels.
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The Islamic State jihadist group has reportedly lost control of its last strip of territory along the Syrian-Turkish border.
“The Turkish forces and allies have taken over al-Rae town north of Aleppo, turning the town into a military zone after claiming to have expelled ISIS militants from the area”, rebel spokesman al-Zein told ARA News.
Syria’s second city has been under constant bombardment and has been a key battleground in the war against ISIS since 2012.
The developments would be a major setback for ISIS, choking off supply lines for the terror group.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIS “has lost its link with the outside world after losing all border areas” with Turkey.
It said the advance “cut all the supply and movement routes for terrorist groups from southern Aleppo province to the eastern neighbourhoods and Ramussa”. Please see our terms of service for more information. Al-Rai is about 55 kilometers west of Jarablus.
The defeat deprived ISIL of access to the Turkish border for the first time since the early days of the groups rise in 2013.
Military sources said that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) backed by coalition forces have liberated two villages from Daesh terrorists in Northern Syria and the Turkish tanks have been targeted during the operation.
The Syria Democratic Forces, which also includes Arab fighters, has taking a large swath of territory from the extremists along the border with Turkey and closed in on Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremist group’s self-styled caliphate.
Ankara fears their advance will embolden Kurdish militants on its own soil.
He pointed out that in order to prevent the missile attacks by the IS, Turkish armed forces should also liberate the city of Al-Bab in the northern Syria. The wall is being erected from Karkamis, a Turkish town across the border from Jarablus, to Suruc, which lies across from the Syrian town of Kobane. We are also defending Syria’s territorial integrity.
Turkey’s military says its right to self-defense as well as United Nations resolutions to combat the IS group justify its Syria incursions.
The weekend gains follow a successful battle by Turkey’s military to seize Jarablus, which lies across the border from Gaziantep, a Turkish city of two million people that has been severely destabilized by the flow of foreign fighters entering and leaving Syria. However, that could sharpen tensions with the United States over Syria policy.
In Hangzhou, China, meanwhile, President Barack Obama said the US and Russian Federation have not given up on negotiations to halt the bloodshed in Syria, but acknowledged that “gaps of trust” exist between the rival powers.
Anadolu said the wounded were children. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
The towns, al-Qadi, Kobbet al-Turikman, al-Battal hill, Aar hill, al-Suwaida, and Waqef in Aleppo northern countryside were cleared of ISIS terrorists.
Meanwhile the war grinds on.
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“We can’t now cross the road to Aleppo even on foot”. The IS, the YPG and the PYD are the most active terrorist groups in Syria. Last month, the image of a 5-year-old Syrian boy rescued after an airstrike leveled his house reverberated around the world.
