Turkey: Coalition warplanes kill 20 Daesh militants in Syria

US-led coalition warplanes killed 20 Daesh militants in Syria over the last 24 hours, the Turkish military said today, nearly two months into a Turkey-backed opposition operation to drive the jihadists away from the border.

Turkey pushed on with the Syrian operation as Iraqi forces launched a US-backed offensive to expel Daesh from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The 11 coalition airstrikes in Syria targeted the areas of Kar Kalbayn, Ghuz, Hassajik and Tiltanah and destroyed two Daesh defensive positions and three vehicles, the army said in a statement.

Separately, Turkish warplanes also carried out airstrikes and destroyed several Daesh targets, it said.

Since the Turkey-backed operation, dubbed “Euphrates Shield”, was launched on 24 August, opposition forces have seized control of some 1,240 square kilometres of territory from the jihadists, according to the statement.

Ankara says thousands of Turkey-trained forces are also participating in the assault to push Daesh out of Mosul, despite a row with Baghdad over the presence of Turkish forces in Iraq.