Col. Ahmed Osman, the leader of Sultan Murad Brigade, part of the groups fighting alongside the Free Syrian Army (FSA), said that the next target of the Turkish-coordinated military operation is to advance towards Mare town in Syria's northwest.
Earlier in August, Mare, a town 25 kilometers north of Aleppo, was said to have been controlled by PYD, armed with the YPG militia. “It will take weeks or perhaps months to uproot Daesh from entire villages it already controls," he said in a statement.
“We aim to clean the whole territory under Daesh control at present. Our top priority is to clean a 70-km stretch of an area on the Turkish-Syrian border westward of Jarabulus," Col. Osman added.
Over 2000 opposition fighters from moderate groups, including Sultan Murad, Liwa Hamza, Ahrar al-Sharq and Liwa Ahrar, supported Turkey's military operation, which aims at uprooting Daesh from Jarabulus before the Syrian Kurdish militia take its control.
Jarabulus town, a mojar center for Turkey-coordinated operation, is also home to several Turkish villages. Hilwaniyah and Tirayhim – the two villages, captured in the first hours of the operation, are among the Syrian Turkmen villages in Aleppo.
The moderate fighters voluntarily supporting the offensive are largely composed of villagers from their homes, seized by Daesh or the Syrian PKK off-shoot.
