Residents return to area under Turkish control

BEIRUT — Tens of thousands of displaced Syrians and refugees have returned to an area controlled by Turkey and Turkish-backed opposition fighters in northern Syria, Turkey’s foreign minister said Saturday, and U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters pressed their offensive in the north near a town held by the Islamic State group.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s comments came three days after Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield that began in August had ended after its troops and allied rebels secured territory along the border between Turkey and Syria.

Cavusoglu said some 50,000 people have returned from Turkey to areas that have been captured by Turkish troops and Turkey-backed opposition fighters, adding that security in these areas should eventually be handed to local forces.

“People started returning to these places,” Cavusoglu said during a visit to the coastal city of Izmir in western Turkey. “Our soldiers are still there and we need to conduct the work there. We need to establish a terror-free zone.”

“The necessary work needs to be done for security to be handed over to local forces. We are continuing our work, including train and equip,” he added.

Turkey sent ground troops into northern Syria in August to support Turkey backed Syrian opposition forces in clearing a border area of Islamic State group militants and to curb Kurdish territorial expansion.

Nearby in northern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces tried under the cover of air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition to besiege the Islamic State stronghold of Tabqa. The city is about 37 miles west of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State group.