18 Islamic State militants killed in Syria, Turkish military says

Turkey’s military on Tuesday 3 January said that at least 18 Islamic State (Isis) militants have been killed and around 37 injured in battle and artillery fire on Monday. The army said that its warplanes annihilated four IS (Daesh) targets and Russian planes hit extremists in Dayr Kak, which is located 8km southwest of Isis stronghold, al-Bab. Ankara, which provides open military support to anti-regime Syrian rebels, launched Operation Euphrates Shield in August 2016 to oust Isis militants.

As a nation, we will fight to the end against not just the armed attacks of terror groups and the forces behind them, but also against their economic, political and social attacks.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian war has reportedly backfired with IS mounting attacks in Turkey over the last year. In a statement President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “They are trying to create chaos, demoralise our people, and destabilise our country with abominable attacks which target civilians … We will retain our cool-headedness as a nation, standing more closely together, and we will never give ground to such dirty games.”

Middle East