The pro-government Sabah daily reported on Thursday that an operation Turkey launched in northern Syria in cooperation with Syrian rebels to drive Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the border city of Jarabulus in late August has ended, according to Turkey’s Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar.
Sabah columnist Okan Müderrisoğlu wrote on Thursday about his impressions of a visit paid to Gulf countries by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan along with some government officials and Akar.
He said Akar noted that the Turkish operation in al-Bab has ended and that efforts are under way to prevent civilian deaths in the city center of al-Bab.
More than 70 Turkish soldiers have so far been killed in Operation Euphrates Shield as a part of which Turkey sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels drive ISIL from the border city of Jarabulus in late August, in a dramatic escalation of its involvement in the Syrian civil war.