The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group monitoring the war, and a Damascus military source also reported the new siege.
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Numerous villages along the border between Syria and Turkey had been taken by Turkish-backed forces “after IS withdrew from them, ending IS’s presence” in the troubled region.
The advance comes after Turkey launched an operation on on August 24 dubbed Euphrates Shield, saying it was targeting both IS but also Syrian Kurdish forces that have been key to driving the jihadists out of other parts of the Syrian-Turkish border.
Turkey last month mounted its first full-scale incursion into Syrian territory since the conflict began, aimed at IS and at US -backed Kurdish forces in the area, which have also been battling the jihadists.
Turkey, which considers the YPG a terrorist organisation and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), fears that gains by the Syrian Kurdish YPG will strengthen militants at home.
According to the official Turkish news agency Anadolu, the Turkish army helped Syrian rebel allies secure border territory stretching from the Syrian towns of Azaz and Jarabulus by ejecting the militants from a string of villages on Sunday.
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.
It said the advance “cut all the supply and movement routes for terrorist groups from southern Aleppo province to the eastern neighbourhoods and Ramussa”.
“We said after they lost Manbij, Isis would start to lose everywhere”. A demonstration broke out along the Syrian border on Friday, where Turkey is building a concrete wall.
Also Sunday, the United States and Russian Federation struggled to keep alive negotiations to end the bloodshed between US-backed rebels and Syria’s Russia-aligned regime.
The U.S. has provided extensive aid and airstrikes to the People’s Protection Units-led Syria Democratic Forces, which have proven to be highly effective against the Islamic State.
Syria’s state-run news agency SANA confirmed the report, adding that “army units, in cooperation with allied forces, carried out a special and swift military operation, establishing full control over Armament Academy and expanding their control in the area of military academies to the south of Aleppo city”.
The areas in which Turkey and the rebels it backed are operating have been cleared of nonarmed personnel, he said, amid claims that Kurdish civilians have been killed. Since then, government forces and their allies have been trying to recapture the area.
In China, to attend the G20 meeting of world leaders, President Tayyip Erdogan said there should be no support for any terrorist organization – a reference to the United States’ backing of the Syrian Kurdish fighters.
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In an e-mailed press statement, Turkey’s military said the FSA has taken 20 villages from the Islamic State, adding that the Turkish army struck 83 Islamic State targets.
