Turkish jets hit Daesh positions in Syria

Turkey-backed militants claim to have pushed Daesh terrorists out of several villages in northern Syria.

Late on Saturday, the Turkish army announced that so-called Free Syrian Army militants had purged Daesh from 10 Syrian villages located close to the Turkish border.

It noted that the Turkish jets had also targeted and destroyed two Daesh positions in northern Syria and that Turkish forces had hit some 300 terrorist targets in Syria during day 11 of its operations.

Earlier, Turkish media reported that around 20 tanks have crossed into northern Syria to join operations against Kurdish-led forces.

Turkey launched an incursion into Syria on August 24. It said the incursion was meant to engage the Daesh Takfiri terrorists in the Syrian-Turkish border area as well as Kurdish fighters, who were themselves fighting Daesh.

The Turkish forces engaged the fighters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Turkish authorities say is allied with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s.

Since then, militants have reportedly been seizing villages along the Turkish border near Jarablus and the western Cobanbey district from Daesh.

Ankara has said its military campaign is aimed at “cleansing” the region of Daesh and preventing Kurdish forces from gaining power in the ensuing void.