Istanbul: Turkey on Wednesday announced its military campaign inside northern Syria was over, without specifying whether it will pull its troops out from the neighbouring country.
Turkey’s top advisory national security council chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the half-year long offensive in Syria has been “concluded successfully.”
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim also said the operation has been completed but did not rule out new military campaigns inside Syria under a different name.
In August, Turkey launched Operation Euphrates Shield inside Syria targeting Daesh and Syrian Kurdish militia fighters that Ankara says are “terrorists”.
Turkey-backed Syrian rebels have captured from extremists several towns including Jarabulus, Al Rai, Dabiq and finally Al Bab, where the Turkish army sustained heavy casualties.
The strategic town of Al Bab, just 25 kilometres south of the Turkish border, had been the extremists’ last stronghold in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey wants to work with its allies to capture the Daesh bastion of Raqa in Syria but without the involvement of Syrian Kurdish militia.
