Turkish Soldiers, Allied Militants Fail to Prevail over ISIL’s Positions in Northern Syria

The Turkish soldiers and FSA militants launched a new offensive on the Eastern outskirt of Al-Bab on Sunday, targeting the ISIL positions in Umm Adaseh, Qabr Maqri and al-Saqlaniyeh.

The ISIL fighters repelled the assault, inflicting heavy casualties on the forces of the Euphrates Shield Operation.

In a matter of hours, the Turkish soldiers and FSA started retreating from the Eastern outskirts of al-Bab in order to evade more losses.

ISIL released a statement confirming defeat of the Turkish army and FSA, posting images of the latter retreating from areas across the Eastern outskirt of al-Bab.

Reports said in late December that the Turkish government recruited Syrian male refugees between the ages of 18 and 35 to fight beside its mercenaries within the framework of the Euphrates Shield Operation in Northern Syria.

The Arabic-language al-Hadath news website said in a report that while sources close to the terrorist groups deny such reports, media activists close to the dissidents have confirmed the revelations and released images showing white buses in Gaziantep are used for transferring the refugees back the battlefields in Northern Syria.

“The Turkish authorities force any Syrian refugee of eligible age to get on the white buses to be taken back to Northern Syria to fight in Ankara’s Euphrates Shield Operations,” the report added.