Turkey has successfully ended its seven month Euphrates Shield military campaign in Northern Syria. The news was confirmed when the Prime Minister made an announcement at a meeting of the country's Security Council. There was no information if the Turkish troops will now leave Syria, and the Prime Minister did not rule out military operations.
Turkey launched the offensive military campaign in order to stop the advance of local Kurdish fighters. The main objective was to push Islamic State militants away from its border. The operation of Euphrates Shield had been very successful and is now completed, any operation following this will have a different name.
Turkish troops, planes and tanks crossed the border to drive IS militants from a 60 mile stretch of the border. The Turkish army had backed Syrian rebels and together they have captured several towns, including Jarablus, they finally moved towards the south to the strategic town of Al-bab as per BBC.
In this operation they also aimed at preventing Kurdish YPG militias from crossing the Euphrates River. They were concerned that the Syrian Kurds will try to establish self ruling territories similar to Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region. Apparently the Kurdish YPG militias were trying to move westwards by linking up with mainly Kurdish areas out there. The operation was successful to preventing all their measures.
It considers YGP units to be the Syrian extension of the Kurdish PKK group, they have been fighting an insurgency in south eastern Turkey for decades. The YPG was widely regarded as one of the most effective forces in the fight against IS.
The attacks on them have prompted calls from US, UN and EU for Turkey to show restraint. Territorial advancements were made in the northern part of Syria near the border last year around August. With almost a year gone by the military campaign in Syria had successfully ended.
