Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim announced that rebels backed by Ankara have largely taken control of the Syrian town of al-Bab. “After all these struggle (the ‘Euphrates Shield’ operation), al-Bab has been largely taken under control. Our aim is to prevent the opening of corridors from territories controlled by terrorist organizations to Turkey. Thank God our efforts did not go to waste and we reached our goal,” said Yildirim.
The Syrian rebels, backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes, swept into northern Syria in August in an operation, dubbed “Euphrates Shield”, to push the Islamic State and Kurdish militias from Turkey’s border. The Turkish backed-rebels have been pressing a major offensive for weeks on the Islamic State-held town of al-Bab, some 30 kilometers south of the Turkish border, which is equal to some 20 miles.
The advance risks putting them in direct conflict with the Syrian government forces, who are closing in on the city from the south, and hopes to recapture it before Turkey claims it to itself. President Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish leaders have been saying for weeks that the al-Bab offensive was nearing an end, yet the Islamic State continues to persist in protecting the town, which signifies the extreme Muslim group’s last strategic foothold along the Turkish border.