BREAKING NEWS

Erdogan: Turkish operation in Syria will continue to Raqqa

ISTANBUL - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that the final goal of a Turkish military incursion into Syria was not just to retake the city of al-Bab from Islamic State, but to cleanse a border region including Raqqa of the jihadists.
"The ultimate goal is to cleanse a 5,000-square-km area," Erdogan told a news conference before his departure on an official visit to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Turkey has long advocated a "safe zone" for civilians in northern Syria cleared of Islamic State militants and the Kurdish YPG militia, but says such an area would need to be policed by a no-fly zone.