BATTLEFIELD SYRIA
Turkey vows to complete offensive to evict Islamic State
Ankara/Beirut — Turkey said on Wednesday it would press its military offensive in Syria until Islamic State was driven from the town of al-Bab, despite a warning from forces allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a helicopter attack on the rebels it backs. Turkey’s incursion into Syria, launched two months ago to drive Islamic State militants from its border and prevent Kurdish fighters from gaining ground in their wake, has complicated an already messy battlefield. As the Turkey-backed rebels push south towards al-Bab, an Islamic State-held town 35km northeast of Aleppo, they face confrontation with both Kurdish and pro-Assad forces, whose frontlines lie close by. The field commander of the forces allied to the Syrian leader — which include the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Iraqi militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards — warned Turkey that any advance towards their positions would be met "decisively". The commander made the comments during a tour of frontlines to the nort...
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