'Daesh was weakened by the determination of the fighters,' says Sultan Murat Division Commander Fehim Isa, adding the Syrian city will be cleaned from Daesh soon
The Syrian province of al-Bab, witnessing Euphrates Shield operation, will be rescued from the Daesh terrorists as the city has already been surrounded by the Turkey-backed moderate opposition fighters, Sultan Murat Division Commander Fehim Isa said.
"Despite the slowing of the process due to the bad weather conditions, Daesh was weakened by the determinism of the fighters," Isa said.
Opposition commander also said that the civilians who succeeded to flee the city made the terrorists lose power as the moderate opposition was concerned about the security of the civilians who used to be stuck inside the Daesh-held city.
"When the operation started, there were 40,000 to 50,000 civilians; however, after a big percentage of the residents fled the city, it is estimated that up to 3,000 civilians are still in al-Bab," he said.
"We will rescue al-Bab from Daesh terrorists. They had great losses and they cannot send military reinforcements to al-Bab due to the ongoing attacks against the terrorist organization in Iraqi province of Mosul and Syrian province of Raqqa," Isa said.
"We will never take a step back. In the last 1.5 years around 400 fighters have been martyred. We are determine to sweep them out of al-Bab," the commander added.
Sultan Murat Division Commander also thanked Turkey and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the support that is being given to Syrians.
Meanwhile, U.S.-led coalition jets carried out maneuvers in support of Turkey's ongoing operation to wrest control of the northern Syrian town of al-Bab from Daesh, the Pentagon confirmed Tuesday.
"There was a request when some Turkish forces came under fire for air support, and there were flights conducted by the coalition at that time," spokesman Peter Cook told reporters of actions taken last week that he described as a "a visible show of force" for Turkey's forces.
He added that the coalition aircraft did not carry out any air strikes.
"We see the very significant efforts that the Turkish military is engaging in Syria, the sacrifice of Turkish forces in Syria, the significant sacrifices," he said.
He added that the U.S. continues to hold dialogues with Ankara over "the appropriate level of support" for its operation.
The Turkish army is supporting Free Syrian Army fighters as they seek to liberate al-Bab, a strategic city for Daesh.
The Euphrates Shield operation was launched between the Turkish Armed Forces and the Free Syrian Army, with the aim to sweep Daesh from Syria.
The operation has been continuing for 134 days amid high security measures to prevent civilian casualties.
