217 ISIL targets hit in Syria: Turkish military

ANKARA

Some 217 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets were hit on Dec. 18 in northern Syria as part of the Euphrates Shield Operation, the Turkish Armed Forces has announced.

The military stated that 160 targets were “neutralized” by fire support vehicles during the ongoing operation.

In addition, 57 targets, including a number of weapons depots, were destroyed by Turkish warplanes in the al-Bab, Bzagah, Zammar, Suflaniyyah and Kabr al-Mukri regions.

On Aug. 24, the Turkish Armed Forces launched an operation in Syria, dubbed Euphrates Shield, which Ankara says targets both the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Turkey regards the YPG and the PYD as terrorist organizations due to their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

A total of 300 Turkish commandos joined the operation earlier this month, according to military sources.