MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On August 24, the Turkish forces, backed by US-led coalition aircraft, began a military operation dubbed Euphrates Shield aimed at freeing the Syrian northern territories from terrorists and creating security zones for accommodation of refugees. After liberating the Syrian border town of Jarabulus and the surrounding area of Daesh, outlawed in Russia and many other countries, the Turkish forces continued offensive in the southwest direction.
"The Turkish Air Forces in the course of a military operation to the west of the settlement of Salwah struck 18 IS [Daesh] terrorists, a vehicle, two buildings and two IS bases. The Air Forces conducted six operations, killing 10 IS militants, destroying one air defense battery, three buildings, and one vehicle. Turkish Armed Forces destroyed 73 IS targets and two targets of the Syrian Kurds' self-defense forces… Five IS militants were killed," the statement read.
According to the statement, five Free Syrian Army opposition fighters were killed and 18 wounded.
Turkish forces regularly come into confrontation with the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), and its military wing People's Protection Units (YPG) operating in Syria, which Ankara considers to be an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), outlawed in Turkey.
