Rebel fighters ride a military vehicle near rising smoke from al-Bab city, northern Aleppo province.

Turkish warplanes struck 15 targets in the al Bab area of northern Syria on Sunday in an operation with Syrian rebels to drive ISIS militants out of the border region, the Turkish military said on Monday.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said seizing control of al-Bab, around 30 km south of the border, is a goal of the operation before targeting Manbij, from which Kurdish-led forces recently drove ISIS, and the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.

Ten ISIS defensive positions, command centers and an ammunition store were destroyed in the strikes, the army said in a statement. Nine Syrian rebels were killed and 52 wounded during clashes in the region, it added.

The Turkish military launched the operation, dubbed ‘Euphrates Shield’, on Aug. 24 and the rebel forces have so far seized control of about 1,620 square km (625 square miles) of territory, the military said.

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