Turkey to clear Raqqa and Mosul from Daesh

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has signalized the possible operations in Mosul and Raqqa following al-Bab, aiming at clearing the Daesh terrorists from the region, adding that Turkish military was ready to join any offensive in the two regions.

The operation is significant for Ankara because Turkish officials attached importance to preventing the second corridor of Sulaymaniyah- Kirkuk-Raqqa-Haseke-Qamishli-Kobani-Manbij which the Kurdistan Workers' Party affiliated Democratic Union Party (PKK/PYD) has been attempting to form.

The sources, speaking to Turkish Yeni Şafak daily newspaper, said that more than a thousand terrorists have been located in the Sinjar Mountain region.

The possible operation will aim to destroy four PKK/PYD terrorist camps in the Sinjar region.

"But at this stage, we have to show our presence in the region. We do not have the chance to take a backward step. If we take a step backward, terror groups like Daesh, PKK, PYD and YPG will settle there," Erdoğan said.

The operation in Mosul will pave the way for the retake of the strategically important Tal Afar from where around 300,000 Turkmens fled.

Two weeks ago, Turkish President Erdoğan discussed the strategy in fighting Daesh and PKK/PYD terrorists during the meeting with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masood Barzani, the President of Iraq's Kurdish autonomous government (KRG).

Barzani asked for help from Turkey in the fight against the terrorists, saying that Ankara's deployment of a battalion to Mosul's Bashiqa camp to protect the region from Daesh is not enough.

As manys as 17,000 have been trained by Turkish forces in Mosul since December 2015, as a part of the Turkish efforts to train soldiers against Daesh.