Turkish PM says Daesh purged from border with Syria
Turkey says Daesh has been pushed out of their last positions on the Turkish-Syrian border.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced that Turkish military forces and Ankara-backed militants had successfully purged the border region from "terrorist organizations."
"From Azaz to Jarablus, our 91-kilometer border has been completely secured," he said during a televised speech.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed Yildirim’s claims, noting that militants backed by “Turkish tanks and warplanes" had taken several villages "after Daesh withdrew from them, ending Daesh’s presence... on the border."
The Turkish military is supporting a ground offensive by hundreds of pro-Ankara militants in Syria who managed to enter the Syrian border town of Jarablus in a lightening advance after meeting little resistance from Daesh terrorists there.
Earlier, Yildirim announced that Turkey will never allow the formation of an "artificial state" by US-backed militants of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) near its border in northern Syria.
"We are there with Euphrates Shield, we are there to protect our border, to provide for our citizens safety of life and property, and to ensure Syria's integrity," he added.
Turkey launched an incursion into Syria on August 24. It said the incursion, dubbed Operation Euphrates Shield, was meant to engage the Daesh Takfiri terrorists in the Syrian-Turkish border area as well as Kurdish fighters, who were themselves fighting Daesh.
The Turkish forces engaged the fighters of the YPG, which Turkish authorities say is allied with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s.
Since then, militants have reportedly been seizing villages along the Turkish border near Jarablus and the western Cobanbey district from Daesh.
Ankara has said its military campaign is aimed at “cleansing” the region of Daesh and preventing Kurdish forces from gaining power in the ensuing void.
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