Russia targeted Daesh positions in Syria's al-Bab in airstrikes carried out on Wednesday for the first time, as Turkey is carrying out Operation Euphrates Shield to clean terrorists from the region and the Syrian opposition and Assad regime announced a ceasefire in the country.

Russian jets have hit Daesh terrorists in southern al-Bab, while Turkish forces focused on central and northern parts of the town, a Turkish official told Daily Sabah.

Turkey launched the operation on al-Bab as part of Operation Euphrates Shield, launched on Aug. 24, which aims to eliminate terror threats to Turkey's southern borders posed by Daesh and PKK's Syrian offshoots, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG).

Located 30 kilometers from the Turkish border, al-Bab used to be home to around 64,000 people, mainly Sunni Arabs, before the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011.



Operation Euphrates Shield has been pushing southward to clear Daesh from al-Bab, forming a 5,000-square-kilometer terror-free zone comprising the towns of al-Bab, al-Rai, Azaz, Jarablus and Manbij.