62 Daesh targets destroyed in Syria

ANKARA (AA) - A total of 62 Daesh terrorist targets were destroyed in an operation carried out by U.S.-led coalition forces in northern Syria Thursday as part of the ongoing Operation Euphrates Shield, according to a Turkish military source.

In an emailed statement to Anadolu Agency, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said that in the last 24 hours, two opposition fighters were killed in the clashes, while during the nearly two-month operation overall, a total of 134 neighborhoods have been cleared of Daesh.

Friday marked the 52nd day of Operation Euphrates Shield, which began on Aug. 24 and is aimed at bolstering border security, supporting coalition forces, and eliminating the threat posed by terror organizations, especially Daesh.

The operation is in line with the country’s right to self-defense borne out of international treaties and a mandate given to Turkey’s armed forces by its parliament in 2014, which was extended for another year in September 2015.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people are believed to have been killed, and more than 10 million displaced, across the war-torn country, according to UN figures.

However, the Syrian Center for Policy Research, a Beirut-based NGO, has put the death toll from the five-year conflict at more than 470,000.