Turkish airstrike kills 20 ISIS in Syria, says army

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Turkish military carried out airstrikes in northern Syria, killing 20 Islamic State (ISIS) militants, according to an official statement on Sunday.

 

The airstrikes on Saturday evening also destroyed three buildings occupied by ISIS in the Tel Hawa area, east of the border town of al-Rai, the Turkish General Staff confirmed in a statement carried by Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency news.

 

Earlier on Saturday in the same area of Tel Hawa, three Turkish soldiers were killed and one was injured in an ISIS attack on a Turkish tank, the army announced Saturday.

 

Turkish forces are in northern Syria as part of the army’s operation Euphrates Shield launched at the end of August with the assistance of local militias fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The operation aims to clear ISIS from the Syria-Turkey border areas and to stop Kurdish forces from advancing west of the Euphrates River.