Turkey’s military hit 71 Daesh targets in Syria over the last 24 hours, the army said today, intensifying strikes against the militant group, which has claimed responsibility for the latest bomb attack in southeast Turkey.
Five Daesh fighters were killed in the strikes, as were five Turkey-backed rebels and one Turkish soldier, the army said in its statement. It said coalition forces conducted five air strikes, killing another eight Daesh militants.
Turkey is backing a group of Syrian Arabs and Turkmen in northern Syria as a part of its “Euphrates Shield” operation, which has swept Daesh almost entirely from its southern border. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) was formed early in the conflict to oust President Bashar Al-Assad from power.
Officers and soldiers who formerly served the Assad regime defected and contributed heavily to the manpower of the FSA, which is also backed by the US.
