Turkish troops, Syria fighters enter Daesh-held Al-Bab

BEIRUT: Turkish troops and Syrian opposition fighters on Saturday entered the Daesh-held town of Al-Bab in northern Syria, as regime forces moved closer to the terrorists’ bastion, a monitor said.
Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency quoted military sources as saying one Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded in clashes with Daesh fighters in Al-Bab.
Turkish forces and allied fighters have for weeks pressed an operation code-named Euphrates Shield to drive the terrorists from the flashpoint town.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish forces and allied militias entered Al-Bab from the west and then took full control of its western suburbs after fierce clashes with the terrorists.
The clashes coincided with “Turkish shelling and intensive airstrikes” on Al-Bab, the Britain-based monitor said.
Al-Bab is the terror group’s last stronghold in the northern province of Aleppo and is also being targeted by regime forces.
While Turkish-led forces have been advancing from the north, east and west, Syrian regime troops are attacking from the south.
On Monday, Syrian troops severed a road leading into the town from the south and by Friday they were just 1.5 km from the southern outskirts of Al-Bab.
Turkey began an unprecedented campaign inside Syria in August, targeting both Daesh and Kurdish militia.
After initial rapid progress, the campaign has been mired since December in the deadly fight for Al-Bab. Turkey’s Dogan news agency says 66 Turkish soldiers have been killed in the campaign since it started, mostly in Daesh attacks.
Meanwhile, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency has reported that Tehran will allow Russian fighter jets to fly over its airspace to support military operations in Syria.
The Saturday report quoted Ali Shamkhami, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. He said: “Cooperation between Iran and Russia to fight against terrorism in Syria has wide and comprehensive dimensions.”
In August, Iran confirmed that Russian bombers had launched airstrikes from near the Iranian city of Hamedan, to hit targets in eastern Syria.