The Turkish military has carried out an operation to protect troops guarding the tomb of Süleyman Şah in northern Syria, evacuating the tomb and brining the soldiers back to Turkey.
The Turkish military has successfully completed an operation into Syria to evacuate Turkish soldiers guarding a tomb, but one soldier was killed in an accident during the mission, according to a statement from the Turkish military. The statement saidthat no clashes erupted during the operation. Report Zaman
Commenting on the operation on Twitter, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the soldiers guarding the tomb safely returned to Turkey. The prime minister also confirmed reports that remains of Süleyman Şah were exhumed during the operation. He said a new area in northern Syria has been designated and has been brought under the control of the military to transfer remains of Süleyman Şah. Davutoğlu congratulated the military for the sucessful operation.
In remarks to reporters on Sunday morning, Davutoğlu said 38 troops guarding the tomb were safely brought to Turkey.
At a press conference, Davutoğlu said 39 Turkish tanks, 57 armored vehicles and 572 personnel took part in two operations inside Syria — one in Süleyman Shah tomb in Aleppo and a simultaneous one in another region in Syria near the Turkish border to take control of anarea designated to be the new burial place for Süleyman Şah’s remains. Both operations got under way as of 09:00 p.m. on Saturday night. The troops arrived at Süleyman Shah tomb at 00:30 a.m. and left the tomb as of 04:45 a.m. after exhuming the remains in a ceremony. Remains of Süleyman Şah were brought to Turkey and the troops destroyed the tomb’s complex, said Davutoğlu, apparently to prevent it from being used by ISIL militants.