WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Ankara announced on early Wednesday that Turkish forces, backed by US-led coalition aircraft, had begun a military operation dubbed "Euphrates Shield" to clear the Syrian border town of Jarablus of Daesh terrorists.
"The United States has been encouraging the Turks for quite some time to take decisive action to close the Turkey-Syria border… the fact that Turkey has taken these steps is an indication of important progress," Earnest told reporters.