Alalam - Syria

The figures on Operation Euphrates Shield, which has entered its fifth month, were released on Friday and reported by Reuters.

According to the Turkish military, 1,294 ISIS militants have been “neutralized” during the operation, 1,171 of them have been killed.

The military added that 306 Kurdish YPG militants have been “neutralized,” and 291 have been killed during the campaign.

Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria started on August 24.

Ankara deployed ground and air forces to Syria with the stated goal of retaking areas held by ISIS and securing its southern borders.

Ankara’s forces, however, also engaged Kurdish YPG militia forces on multiple occasions, while critics of Turkish policies claimed that suppressing Kurdish enclaves in Syria was the true goal of Euphrates Shield.

In late November, Erdogan stated that yet another goal for the operation is to “end the rule of the tyrant Assad.”

Statements such as these have been met with consternation in Moscow, which asked the Turkish president for an explanation.

Erdogan then backtracked, explaining that the “aim of the Euphrates Shield Operation is not any country or person, but only terrorist organizations.”

SA