Striking details of anti-Daesh operation revealed

As the only force fighting against Daesh with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in northern Syria, the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) showed great heroism in Syria's al-Bab as part of the Operation Euphrates Shield.

When the Daesh terrorist organization attacked and hit two Turkish tanks with TOW rockets several times in the bloody ambush of Dec. 29, Turkish soldiers did not leave the vehicles until the last moment and hit Daesh terrorists effectively, even though the TAF's tanks took fire during the incident.

Among soldiers, Specialist Sergeant Ayhan Güzel succumbed to his wounds and fell martyr at the hospital.

Daesh terrorists launched a massive attack with all their might on the TAF-held district in al-Bab around 6:00 p.m. on Dec. 29.

In the ambush which was described by military circles as “the biggest Daesh attack ever seen," assailants aimed to massacre Turkish soldiers.

Being caught abruptly, the Special Duty Forces did not have time to deploy against them, while the battalion commander said, “We were even not able to count the number of bomb-laden armored vehicles and suicide bombers."

At that very moment, two M60 tanks came to forefront, starting rapid fire against Daesh targets. The first one was shot with the anti-tanks missile, TOW, but did not stop firing and covered all targets with fire one by one.

Injured terrorists hit the tank a second time and wounded soldiers in it. The battalion commander ordered to retreat, but they declined to leave the tank by saying, “If we give up, nobody will survive."

Caught on fire, the malfunctioned armored vehicle maintained hitting terrorist targets with manual firing weapons.

Shortly after, the third TOW hit the tank and the tank's barrel stopped firing. The crew had no a choice but to leave. They were all wounded.

After the first tank was out of use, the second one stepped in and took over the fight without giving terrorists any respite.

Being hit twice, the sergeant responsible for the tank also refused to leave and continued firing even though he was wounded. Eventually, Daesh's bloody ambush was completely repelled without any martyrs thanks to extraordinary efforts of those two armored vehicles.

The battalion commander said, “You should have seen the scene. Tens of bomb-laden vehicles, armored vehicles and suicide attackers were completely destroyed thanks to a couple of soldiers. No terrorist was standing, over a hundred of them were lying on the ground in front of us."

Military circles said that two young tank officers demonstrated great heroism there. Five soldiers were wounded and they were in shock. But regrettably, one of those heroes lost the struggle of life. He fell a martyr at the hospital.

The Euphrates Shield operation was launched between the Turkish Armed Forces and the Free Syrian Army, with the aim to sweep Daesh from Syria, and has been running for 130 days.

The Euphrates Shield operation has neutralized more than 1,600 terrorists since its launch on August 24. Also, a 2,000-square-kilometer area has been cleared of terrorists so far.