REUTERS/Rodi Said

“PROGRESS IS FAST”

The Turkish military said in a statement that 58 Islamic State militants had been killed in air strikes, artillery fire and clashes. Four Turkish soldiers had been killed and at least a dozen wounded. In a sign of Turkish momentum and confidence, the government said its next target would be the Syrian city of Raqqa, de facto capital of the embattled Islamic State group which has also been partly dislodged from its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul. "The al-Bab operation must be completed immediately in the period ahead ... “The al-Bab operation must be completed immediately in the period ahead … In recent days our special forces and the Free Syrian Army (rebels) have made serious progress,” Cavusoglu told a news conference in the capital Ankara. The battle for al-Bab has raised the prospect of confrontation between the Turkish military and the Syrian army, which has pushed to within a few kilometres of the city's southern outskirts. A Syrian rebel official and a monitoring organisation said the advancing rebel and Turkish forces had captured the western outskirts of al-Bab, some 30 km (20 miles) south of the Turkish border. But an official in a military alliance backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the city was being left to Turkish control, in what appeared to be part of a de facto deal with Russia, Assad’s most powerful ally. Turkish military reinforcements had been sent to the area about a week ago, the rebel added. COORDINATION WITH RUSSIA

Al-Bab has been a major target of a Turkish offensive launched in northern Syria last August to drive Islamic State away from the border and prevent further gains by U.S.-backed Kurdish militia that are also fighting the jihadist group. The city was encircled earlier this week when Syrian government forces cut the last way into the city. ISTANBUL/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Turkish army and allied Syrian rebels have captured the western outskirts of the Islamic State-held city of al-Bab, a rebel official and war monitor said on Wednesday, escalating their assault as the Syrian army also advanced on the city. "We don't know if Daesh (Islamic State) will be able to recover it, or if it is in a state of collapse," Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said. In a video sent by the rebel official, three Syrian rebel fighters with the Sultan Murad faction said they were speaking from inside al-Bab. Thank God, we have reached this place," said one of the rebels. The Observatory said at least six people had been killed and 12 more wounded in the latest shelling of al-Bab. The organisation says Turkish bombardment has killed scores of people since December. Turkey says it has been careful to avoid civilian casualties. Turkish presidency sources said on Wednesday President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call overnight to act jointly against Islamic State in al-Bab and Raqqa, another Syrian city held by IS. The White House said in a statement that Trump spoke about the two countries' "shared commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms" and welcomed Turkey's contributions to the fight against Islamic State, but it gave no further details.
Syrian rebels, with backing from the Turkish Armed Forces, advance on ISIL-held al-Bab, capturing the outskirts of the town.