ANKARA (Sputnik) — The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is encircling the city of Al Bab in northern Syria and will soon retake it from the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) terrorists with support of the Turkish armed forces, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.
"The FSA troops are now two kilometers [1.2 miles] away from the Al Bab city and are encircling it with support of our armed forces, as it was planned. I believe that the operation of taking Al Bab will not last long," Erdogan said at a press conference.
On August 24, the Turkish forces launched a military operation dubbed Euphrates Shield aimed at combating the Daesh terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries. After liberating the Syrian border town of Jarabulus, the Turkish forces, backed by the Syrian opposition, continued the offensive in the southwest direction.
