60 Syrian civilians killed in Turkish shelling of Syrian city: Group

A monitoring group says at least 60 civilians been killed in shelling by the Turkish military in Syria’s northern border town of al-Bab over the past few days.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Monday that 13 children had been among those killed in the Turkish shelling on the town, which lies 40 kilometers northeast of Aleppo.

The UK-based group said dozens of others had also been injured in the shelling.

It said that intense battles were going on between Turkish forces and allied militants on the one side and the Daesh extremists on the other.

The Observatory said Daesh militants are still in control of major areas in al-Bab, even though Turkish forces and their allies have captured a string of areas in the western flank of the town.

On August 24, 2016, the Turkish Air Force and special ground forces kicked off Operation Euphrates Shield inside Syria in a declared bid to rid the border area of Daesh terrorists and fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Democratic Union Party (PYD).

The operation was not coordinated with the Syrian government, which has described it as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.

Syrian army troops recapture oil field

Meanwhile, Syrian government forces have managed to wrest full control over an oil field from foreign-sponsored terrorists in the country’s central province of Homs.

An unnamed military source said Syrian forces liberated the Hayan oil field in the desert region of Palmyra, located 215 kilometers northeast of the capital, Damascus, on Tuesday, killing scores of terrorists in the process.

Separately, Syrian Justice Minister Najm Hamad Ahmad has announced the establishment of a special commission to investigate crimes perpetrated by foreign-backed Takfiri militants in the country’s northern province of Aleppo.

The pro-government and Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper reported that the commission will look into some 10,000 pages of documents to establish their authenticity and provide compelling evidence concerning states sponsoring the terrorist groups in Syria.