The Free Syrian Army (FSA), supported by the Turkish military and allied forces, took control of six more villages from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in northern Syria on Tuesday, the Turkish military said in a statement.
According to the statement, the FSA took control of the villages of Vukuf, Sadvi, Al Ayyubiyah, Sandi, Sinekli and Abubiyat.
On Tuesday three Turkish soldiers were killed and five others were wounded after ISIL launched a rocket attack on two Turkish tanks near the village of al-Waqf in northern Syria.
As part of an operation called Euphrates Shield, which started on Aug. 24, rebels allied with Turkey on Sunday cleared ISIL elements from the last stretch of the Turkish border with Syria.
It was hallmark progress in Turkey’s bid to secure the 90-kilometer (55 miles) corridor and marks a significant step in Ankara’s plan to stop the expansion of Kurdish militias towards the west.
With this, ISIL no longer controls any part of the border and has been removed from NATO’s southeastern frontier in an operation backed by Turkish tanks and troops.