ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least 30 ISIS militants have been killed by Turkish warplanes and more than 140 positions belonging to the group destroyed as part of the ongoing Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria, according to Turkey’s military.
Citing a statement from the Turkish General Staff, Anadolu Agency said 30 “Daesh terrorists” were killed and 143 targets of the group destroyed including “shelters, headquarters, defense positions and vehicles,” by the Turkish army in coordination with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters.
In addition, the Turkish jets destroyed “51 buildings” the group used as hideouts.
The statement, however, did not specify as to where exactly these ISIS buildings in northern Syria were located or the location where the militants were killed.
The Turkish army is currently backing the Syrian FSA in their drive to push ISIS out of the northern town of al-Bab.
According to an Associated Press report on Sunday, Turkish troops and allied SDF have managed to capture just one-tenth of al-Bab town.
The Turkish military announced over the weekend that it had “neutralized” another 44 ISIS militants and hit 253 ISIS targets in northern Syria in the course of 24 hours.
According to figures from the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 315 civilians have been killed as a result of Turkish shelling on al-Bab and surrounding villages since November 13, when Turkish and FSA forces reached the town’s outskirts.
The Turkish-led Operation Euphrates Shield began in early September 2016 to clear the northern part of Syria in collaboration with FSA fighters.
Turkey has backed Syrian opposition forces since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, mainly the FSA, most of whom are defectors from the Syrian army.
