Turkish Army Destroys 58 Daesh Targets in Northern Syria – General Staff

The Turkish forces destroyed a total of 58 targets of the Daesh jihadist group and one position of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the past 24 hours as part of the Euphrates Shield operation in northern Syria, Turkey’s General Staff said in a statement on Monday.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — Ankara considers PYD, and its military wing YPG (People's Protection Units) operating in Syria, an affiliate of PKK, which is outlawed in Turkey.

“Our armed forces destroyed 58 IS [Daesh] targets and one target of PYD-Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK]. The Free Syrian Army [of Syrian opposition, FSA] liberated three settlements in the area of ​​the city of Mari,” the statement read.

The total area under FSA's control in the north of Syria amounts to 1,390 square kilometers [some 537 square miles], the General Staff added.

The Turkish military launched an operation  to clear the Syrian border town of Jarabulus and the surrounding area of the Daesh, outlawed in Russia and multiple other countries, on August 24 prompting accusations of invasion from Damascus and Syrian Kurds.