Turkish army launches anti-terrorist operation in Syria

The Turkish army on August 24 launched a cross-border operation along with the U.S.-led coalition in Syria’s northern border city of Jarablous to clear the area from the Daesh terror organization, the Prime Minister’s office said in a statement, Daily Sabah reports.

Turkish Special Forces entered Jarablous by land along with aerial support from Turkish F-16 jets, military sources said.

Turkish forces also used intense artillery fire as well as tanks in cross-border attacks against Daesh elements in Jarablous, officials said.

According to military sources, some 70 targets were destroyed only by the artillery fire and tanks which were stationed on Turkish soil.

The operation, which began at around 4 a.m. local time, is aimed at clearing the Turkish borders of terrorist groups, helping to enhance border security and supporting the territorial integrity of Syria, they said.

Preventing a new flow of migrants and delivering aid to the region’s civilian population in need are also among the goals, officials added.

Haber Turk television and Hurriyet newspaper, citing unnamed military sources, said a ground offensive has not started. Hurriyet said efforts were underway to open a “passage” into the region. It quoted the sources as saying Turkish Howitzers and rocket launchers had fired 224 rounds at 63 targets within an hour and 45 minutes, and that the Turkish air raids started just after 6 a.m.

The move comes after a series of mortar bombs landed in a residential Turkish area along the Syrian border beginning Tuesday morning, security sources said.

There were no injuries in Karkamış, which lies approximately 1 kilometer across the frontier from Jarablous, part of Aleppo governorate, where Free Syrian Army forces are fighting to take control of the city from Daesh.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey is ready to provide support of all kinds for the Jarablus operation to liberate the town from Daesh.

“It is important that the terror organizations are cleansed from the region,” Çavuşoğlu said in a joint news conference with his Hungarian counterpart.

Operations of Turkish Armed Forces, which has been actively fighting Daesh, have significantly contributed to ongoing efforts of U.S.-backed international coalition against the terror group.