- Title: Turkey-backed rebels prepare for final al-Bab assault - deputy PM
- Date: 12th December 2016
- Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (DECEMBER 12, 2016) (REUTERS) TURKISH DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, NUMAN KURTULMUS, WALKING IN FOR A NEWS CONFERENCE REPORTERS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, NUMAN KURTULMUS, SAYING: "Regarding al-Bab, as you have said, we are coming to the end. The city is besieged and preparations are underway for a final operation. I hope that part of the operation regarding al-Bab will be over as soon as possible." PHOTOGRAPHER FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, NUMAN KURTULMUS, SAYING: "Turkey believes that humanitarian aid must be delivered to Aleppo soonest. We believe that delivering humanitarian aid do not necessarily depend on the establishment of a ceasefire. We wish a ceasefire could be achieved this moment. But achieving a ceasefire requires a multi-sided political process. Free Syrian army and Syrian opposition are ready for a ceasefire." REPORTERS TAKING NOTES KURTULMUS LEAVING
- Embargoed: 27th December 2016 23:27
- Keywords: Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus rebels al-Bab startegic Syrian city final assault
- Location: ANKARA, TURKEY
- City: ANKARA, TURKEY
- Country: Turkey
- Reuters ID: LVA0015CKZ13B
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Preparations are under way for a final operation by Turkish-backed rebels on the Islamic State-controlled city of al-Bab in northern Syria, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday (December 12).
The city is of strategic importance to Turkey, partly because Kurdish-dominated militias have also been trying to take it from the jihadists.
Turkey-backed rebels closed in on an Islamic State-held city in northern Syria with Turkish tanks and warplanes supporting the assault, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week.
Turkish state media said that Ankara had sent 300 commandos to northern Syria to reinforce "Euphrates Shield", the operation it launched three and a half months ago to push both Islamic State and Kurdish fighters back from the border.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war through a network of sources in the country, confirmed there was an increased number of Turkish troops with the Euphrates Shield forces.
Ankara is determined to prevent the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees as a hostile force, from joining up cantons it controls along the Turkish border, fearing that would embolden Kurdish separatism at home.
Speaking at a news conference after a cabinet meeting, Kurtulmus also said humanitarian aid shipments to Syria's Aleppo should not depend on the establishment of a ceasefire and called on the international community to help set up an aid convoy. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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