Iraq News

Turkey plans to extend Syria safe zone, push further south

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday (September 19th) that Turkey could create a 5,000-square-kilometre safe zone in Syria by pushing further south in its military operation in the country, AFP reported.

Turkey launched its operation in northern Syria on August 24th, sending in tanks and special forces to support opposition fighters in a bid to remove "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) fighters from its border.

So far the Jarabulus and al-Rai regions have been cleared of ISIL fighters, Erdogan said, adding that forces would now go "downwards towards al-Bab".

The ISIL bastion of al-Bab is 30 kilometres from al-Rai on the Turkish border in the battleground province of Aleppo.

"An area of 900 square kilometres has been cleansed of terrorist elements (ISIL). This is now going south," Erdogan said, referring to operation "Euphrates Shield".

The president added in televised comments that the zone already cleared "could be extended to 5,000 square kilometres as part of a safe zone".

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