DAMASCUS (Sputnik) — According to Al-Mayadeen, the army supported by the militia managed to dislodge Daesh terrorists from six settlements near al-Bab, and it is successfully approaching the city, which serves as a base for Daesh militants, from the south-east.
On August 24, Turkish forces, backed by US-led coalition aircraft, began a military operation dubbed Euphrates Shield to clear the Syrian border town of Jarablus and the surrounding area of Daesh, outlawed in Russia and many other countries. As Jarablus was retaken, the joint forces of Ankara, the coalition and Syrian rebels continued the offensive southwest.
Al Bab is one of Daesh’s last remaining strongholds near the Turkish border. Capturing the city is of strategic importance to Turkey in order to prevent the Syrian Kurds taking it and unifying their own territories.