al-Bab

The Turkish military announced on Dec. 30 that Russian jets hit positions of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) near the Syrian town of al-Bab. 

Turkey feels it has been deserted by its allies in Syria and left alone in its efforts to dislodge the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the town of al-Bab near the Turkish border. This is what we understand from a briefing for journalists last week by the military on the progress of Turkey's operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria launched on Aug. 24. 

As soon as the news that a Russian military transport plane crashed in the Black Sea as it took off from Sochi on Dec. 25, killing all 92 aboard, reached Ankara, the Turkish leadership immediately sent their condolences to Moscow, as they should.

The dead bodies of 16 Turkish soldiers were buried in 14 different provinces across Turkey, all att about the same time on Dec. 23.

A Syria crisis-famed bearded "strategy expert" on a TV program was explaining how it was "normal" to have 14 casualties in a war being waged in a city. The expert said fighting a war with drones or armored vehicles was important in undermining the capacity of the enemy but in order to achieve victory, it was necessary to have boots on ground.

A total of 16 Turkish soldiers were killed in an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attack on Dec. 21 in the northern Syrian city of al-Bab, as Turkish troops and Ankara-backed Syrian rebels battle to take the town from jihadists. 

The number of Turkish soldiers who were killed in an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attack on Dec. 21 in the northern Syrian city of al-Bab has risen to 16, according to Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık.

Three other soldiers wounded in the attacks remain in critical condition, he said, adding that 1,005 militants were "neutralized."

Preparations for a final operation by Turkey-backed rebels on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)-controlled city of al-Bab in northern Syria are underway, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said after a cabinet meeting Ankara on Dec. 12. 

Nearly 1,000 ditches and a large number of improvised explosives and mines left by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in al-Bab have decelerated the entry of the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) into the city in northern Syria as part of the Euphrates Shield Operation, which started in late August, according to Turkish security forces.

Daily Hürriyet's veteran diplomatic correspondent, Uğur Ergan, reported on Monday that Turkey's Euphrates Shield operation in Northern Syria, launched on Aug. 24 against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) - which Ankara says is a terrorist group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) - has slowed down.