Five Turkish soldiers have been killed, and another 10 are wounded, as part of military operations to liberate northern Syria from ISIL occupation.<br /><br /> The Turkish army has been supporting Syrian rebels in an attempt to seize the city of al-Bab from ISIL control. <br /><br /> On Wednesday the Turkish military said its Syrian allies had made significant progress, breaking ISIL defensive lines, and capturing strategically important hills on the city’s outskirts.<br /><br /> “Currently the town is besieged from every side,” said Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to Turkish media Wednesday. “The outer districts of the town have been brought under control.”<br /><br /> The five reported deaths Thursday add to five other soldiers killed in clashes with ISIL this week. Fifteen other Turkish soldiers have been slightly wounded as the noose around al-Bab tightens.<br /><br /> Turkey has had a vested interest in driving ISIL away from its border with Syria. Ankara has effectively created a buffer region between it and the heaviest of fighting since its August 2016 military intervention, code named Operation Euphrates Shield, began.<br /><br /> Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented this week a detailed plan to oust ISIL from another key northern Syrian city — Raqqa — ISIL’s defacto capital.<br /><br /> Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesperson for President Erdogan, said to local broadcaster NTV that Turkey’s military mission has been helped by increased coordination with the US-led coalition which, in the last 10 days, has conducted air strikes on ISIL targets.<br /><br /> Ankara’s priority Kalin said was to establish a safe zone between the towns of Azaz and Jarablus.<br /><br /> This comes as US President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call with President Erdogan to work closer together in ousting ISIL from both the cities of al-Bab and Raqqa.<br />
