The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
‘Turkish troops on verge of taking Is-held Al-bab’
Erdogan hints Turkey may participate in fight for Raqqa
TURKISH TROOPS backed by Syrian rebel fighters have entered the centre of the Islamic State group bastion of Al-bab and will soon capture it, President Recep Erdogan said Sunday.
The town in Aleppo province isthelaststrongholdofthejihadist group in the region, and has also been the target of an assault by Syrian government forces.
The Syrian opposition meanwhile announced the formation of a delegation to attend a new round of Un-sponsored peace talks in Geneva on February 20.
IS has come under pressure from simultaneous offensives in both Syria and Iraq, where the group seized large swathes of territory in 2014 and proclaimed an Islamic “caliphate”.
Erdogan, speaking in Istanbul, said Al-bab “is now besieged from all fronts”.
“Our forces entered the centre,” he added, saying it was “only a matter of time” before the alliance of Turkish forces and rebels took control of the town.
Erdogan added that Al-bab was “not our final target,” hinting that Ankara may participate in the fight to recapture IS’S de facto Syrian capital Raqqa.
Turkish forces and allied rebels entered Al-bab for the first time on Saturday, from the west, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Britain-based monitor reported heavy clashes inside western Al-bab on Sunday, as well as on the northern edge of the town, where Turkish forces and rebels were advancing but had not yet entered the town.
One Turkish soldier was killed and two soldiers wounded in clashes with IS jihadists, the Dogan news agency reported.
That raised to 67 the number of Turkish soldiers killed since Ankara began its Operation Euphrates Shield in August, targeting both IS and the Kurdish YPG militia.
Al-bab has been a key target for both Operation Euphrates Shield, but also Syrian government forces, and Ankara now finds itself effectively jointly besieging the town with Syrian President Bashar al-assad’s forces despite opposing his government.