Daily Sabah
Turkish special forces carried out a ground operation in Syria on late Saturday to eliminate Daesh rocket launching pads that have been targeting Turkey's southeastern Kilis border province for months.
A group of 15-20 soldiers advanced into Syria on Saturday, after preparing for 10 days, gathering extensive intelligence and returned back on Sunday morning, according to Turkish daily Yeni Şafak. The area of operation was 13-14 kilometers away from the Kilis border province inside Syria.
While the military did not yet make an official statement about the operation, Yeni Şafak claimed that similar operations will be carried out to prevent Daesh terrorists from attacking Kilis and to form a safe zone south of Kilis.
The U.S. and Russian military officials were informed about the operation before it started.
On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said that 55 rockets were fired by Daesh into Kilis in the last three months. Retaliatory artillery fire and airstrikes have killed dozens of Daesh terrorists.
According to military sources, a total of 2,144 Daesh targets have been struck in Syria since last July, with 807 Daesh militants killed. A further 365 have been killed in Iraq.