Meanwhile in Aleppo, the Syrian military says it has recaptured areas of the city lost to rebels last month.
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Turkey will never allow the formation of an “artificial state” in northern Syria, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Sunday, referring to the US-backed Kurdish fighters whose advance Ankara is now aiming to stop. “All terrorist organisations have been repulsed and they have gone”, Mr Yildirim said during a televised speech while visiting the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir.
“IS has lost its contact with the outside world after losing the remaining border villages”, the Observatory said.
Turkey has sent more tanks into the northern Syrian village of al-Rai from Kilis province to support Syrian rebels fight Islamic State, Turkish media reported. Airstrikes by the US -led coalition have killed a number of the group’s most prominent founding members and leaders. Prior to the launch of the operation, there was a great risk of SDF forces proceeding to the western side of the Euphrates, which is declared as a red line for Turkey regarding any advances by either DAESH or the PYD, to reach the Azaz-Marea line.
Among Turkey’s strategic goals for the operation was to create a buffer zone within Syria that could protect both its citizens from terror attacks and fleeing Syrians. But they have been steadily pushed back by the efforts of the different groups working against them, including the Kurds farther east and the Syrian rebels in locations farther west. In the late 2012, al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra took control of the city; nevertheless, they handed over the city to DAESH in 2014 since the brutal branch of al-Qaida has sought full control of borders the regime abandoned.
The move comes a month after insurgent groups seized several military academies south of there and opened up a corridor into Aleppo. Since then, government forces and their allies have been trying to recapture the area. It added that all roads linking rebel-held eastern Aleppo with opposition areas outside the city “have been cut”.
The Observatory confirmed these gains.
In a statement released Saturday, the governor’s office of Van said eight soldiers were killed and eight wounded in Friday operations around Tendurek Mountain. “The whole areas are under complete siege”.
Turkey drew up plans more than a year ago to flush Islamic State from its border, but they were shelved amid doubts from US officials about the capabilities of Syrian rebel forces that Turkey had recruited to fight alongside its military and a breakdown in diplomatic relations with Russian Federation.
Three hours before the Turkish-rebel advance was complete, Isis was still reported as holding four villages. Turkey disagrees with its ally’s support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which it considers a terrorist group.
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President Obama also met with Turkish officials about securing the border along Syria and Turkey.
