|
Capture of al-Bab from ISIL is almost complete: Erdogan
 [Hurriyet Daily News] The capture of Syria’s al-Bab from the Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is almost complete, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... said on Dec. 23. The president initially slammed the opposition’s criticism on the military operation in Syria, dubbed Euphrates Shield, saying that the Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA) fighters were close to retaking the ISIS-held town. "When bombs drop on Kilis, you say ’Where are you government?’ When we advance on those who drop bombs on Kilis, this time you say ’Are we the ones who will save the world?’ How naive those people are. Of course we will advance on. Did we make a ’terror-free safe-zone’ statement from the very beginning? We said be patient but they did not understand. So, we said ’We will advance on terror not just in our country but also in there [Syria]. Right now, [capture of] al-Bab is about to be completed by our armed forces and the FSA," Erdogan said at the opening ceremony of the LNG Terminal project in the Aliaga district of the Aegean province of Izmir. Erdogan also refuted claims that there was no diplomatic process during the operation. " ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... does not need any diplomacy lessons," he said. The battle in al-Bab has recently intensified as FSA fighters continue to battle to take the town from ISIS myrmidons. Defense Minister Fikri Isik announced on Dec. 22 that a total of 16 soldiers were killed in al-Bab a day earlier, marking the highest casualty for Turkey in a single day since the launch of the operation in August. Posted by: Fred 2016-12-24 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=476609 |