Turkey Says IS Driven From Turkish-Syrian Border

Turkish tanks crossed into Syria Saturday to support Syrian rebels against the Islamic State group, according to the Anadolu news agency.

At least 20 tanks, five armoured personnel carriers, trucks and other armoured vehicles crossed the border after noon, Dogan news agency said.

Rebels and Turkish forces are now advancing in two directions, to the east from al-Rai and to the west from Jarablus, to seal the border.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says government forces and Syrian rebels have completely expelled the Islamic State (IS) extremists from the Syrian-Turkish border.

The system – created to reduce potential collateral damage as it impacts at a high angle and has a relatively small blast radius – was sacked out of southern Turkey, a United States official said.

On Sunday, they took control of the villages of Ganime and Suveya, west of Jarabulus, as well as Kadikoy (El Kadi), the last Daesh-controlled village along the Turkish-Syrian border.

Now under rebel control, Al Rai had previously been in the hands of IS. Mr. Celik said that while the current plan was working well it may not be sufficient to cope with future surges of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.

Since then, militants have reportedly been seizing villages along the Turkish border near Jarablus and the western Cobanbey district from Daesh.

Asked how the Turkish-led offensive had been able to secure a stretch of 55km in just two days, mopping up a dozen or more towns and villages, Mr Abdulrahman said: “Isis have stopped fighting there, they are moving out”.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan raised concern about the formation of a “terror corridor” along Turkey’s Syrian border.

Ankara seeks to protect its border from the militant group and the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees as affiliates of the outlawed Kurdish PKK group.

The guard killed was part of a group of local residents who cooperate with Turkish security forces against the PKK, listed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.

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The United States said it hit Islamic State targets in the region overnight, although it did not say where.

Turkish Armed Forces units are erecting the modular walls along the Turkish-Syrian borderline between Suruc, Sanliurfa and Karkamis, Gaziantep.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group confirmed that the rebels had taken several villages.

After the government laid siege on Aleppo for the first time in July, the United Nations said that almost 300,000 residents were trapped in rebel-held neighborhoods, making it the largest besieged area in war-torn Syria.

Turkey has also carried out strikes against the YPG north of the town of Manbij, which the Kurds seized last month.