Turkey ends Euphrates Shield military campaign in Syria

Turkey has officially ended the "Euphrates Shield" military operation it launched in Syria last August, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday, but suggested there might be more cross-border campaigns to come.

Turkey launched the offensive last August to push Islamic State militants away from its border and also to stop the advance of local Kurdish fighters, sending troops, tanks and warplanes to support Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels.

Under Euphrates Shield, Turkey took the border town of Jarablus on the Euphrates river, cleared ISIL fighters from a roughly 100-km stretch of the border, then moved south to Al Bab, an ISIL stronghold where Yildirim said "everything is under control".

Turkish troops are still stationed in the secured regions and along the border, which amounts to nearly 2,000 sq km of Syrian territory. The number of Turkish troops involved in Euphrates Shield has not been disclosed.

The Turkish operation was also aimed at preventing the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) from gaining more ground in northern Syria, which Ankara fears would fuel an insurgency being waged by the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in south-eastern Turkey.

The YPG is regarded by Turkey as a terrorist organisation and an extension of the PKK.