Syria: Turkish Army, Allied Militants Suffer Major Casualties in Al-Bab Operation

The Arabic language desk of Sputnik quoted a military source as saying that the Euphrates Shield forces stormed ISIL’s positions West of al-Bab town on Wednesday afternoon, leaving four Turkish soldiers dead and 21 others wounded, including six members of the Free Syrian Army.

The Turkish army attack on ISIL was carried out after the Syrian Army troops managed to take control of the town of Beirat al-Bab South of the town in hours of non-stop clashes with ISIL terrorists.

Al-massdar news website said that ISIL detonated several bomb-laden suicide vehicles in clashes with the Euphrates Shield’s forces, killing and wounding tens of Turkish soldiers and its allied militants.

The Turkish Army’s spokesman said that two Turkish soldiers were killed and 15 other were wounded in the clashes with ISIL.

Informed sources in Northern Syria said on Wednesday that Turkey’s Euphrates Shield Operation forces and their militant allies suffered heavy casualties in battle against ISIL in Northern Aleppo, while Syrian Army troops are advancing rapidly against terrorists in the same region.

The sources said that the Syrian army soldiers killed over 30 ISIL terrorists in their Tuesday operation and took control over several strategic positions, while the Turkish soldiers and their allied militants faced with serious problems after ISIL carried out a counterattack against them and seized control of the town of al-Baza’ah Northeast of al-Bab.

A military expert said that al-Baza’ah was turned into scarecrow for the Turks that were not able to penetrate it two weeks after ISIL captured it.

The expert added that events in al-Baza’ah proved that the Turkish army had not enough experience in street-battle against ISIL to maintain its control over al-Baza’ah and prevent its fall to ISIL.

The expert underlined that the Turkish army’s artillery units and aircraft targeted heavily al-Baza’ah and al-Bab and killed a large number of civilians without making remarkable achievements.