Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters resumed a major offensive inside the Daesh-held city of al-Bab on Thursday, a day after they broke through Daesh defenses in its remaining stronghold in Aleppo province.
A Syrian opposition commander in the Euphrates Shield forces said fighters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), working with Turkish commanders, were moving forward from territory near the western gates of the city they had stormed on Wednesday.
"The battles began a short while ago to complete what had been achieved yesterday," said a commander of a leading FSA group fighting in al-Bab, who requested anonymity.
Northeast of al-Bab, they added, they also regained control of two key villages they had repeatedly been pushed out of in past fighting by a succession of suicide attacks.
The Turkish military said on Thursday they had killed 44 militants in aerial and artillery strikes and clashes in northern Syria.
Syrian government forces have also advanced on al-Bab from the south, bringing them close to Turkey-backed opposition fighters in one of the most complex battlefields of the six-year-old conflict
But Turkey said international coordination was under way to prevent clashes with the regime forces.
Turkish commanders gave the green light for a large-scale push into al-Bab after the Syrian army and its allies made rapid gains that brought them to its southern outskirts, another Syrian opposition official told Reuters.
"Turkish commanders took a decision with us to speed the operation after the regime came too close to the city," he said.
Al-Bab has been a major target of a Turkish offensive launched in northern Syria last August to drive Daesh away from the border and prevent further gains by U.S.-backed YPG terrorist organization..
The city is just 30 km (20 miles) from the Turkish border.
Turkish forces and their allies have however faced fierce resistance from the Daesh terrorists, for whom the city has been a major source of funding and a major economic hub.
