The Turkish military continues to provide tight security in Jarablus, a city east of the Euphrates River, through new advanced military equipment and measures taken to prevent trespassing.
The Köprübatı Border Police Station is placed on the Turkish-Syrian border, with Jarablus, which was liberated in a Turkish military operation from the Daesh terrorist organization last year, on its west and the PKK's Syrian affiliate People's Protection Units (YPG)-held village of Zawr Maghar on its east, making it a critical point for the order security of Turkey.
Due to its critical position, the station is filled with modern military equipment, including BMC's armored Kirpi vehicle, which has a new rocket protection net system that was developed to head off rocket attacks. With the steel case placed around the vehicle, it can survive a rocket strike with minimal damage. The system is also invulnerable to ultraviolet light and is not affected by fire.
According to one of the commanders at the station, the Turkish military captured at least 1,000 people trying to cross the border while the number of victims of human trafficking decreased dramatically since last year's Operation Euphrates Shield. The number of people captured rose from 14,000 in 2014, to 383,000 in 2017. In addition to the people captured, materials were confiscated at the border, including oil, cigarettes, weapons and drugs.
There is also a Cobra-2 exploration vehicle, which was developed for active surveillance on the border. The vehicle has an electro-optical surveillance system, land surveillance radar and attack fixation equipment as well as seats that are mine resistant. Drones are other military weapons that are beneficial for monitoring activities on the border. A Serçe drone can fly even in moderate wind and provide constant monitoring on the border with night vision and thermal cameras.
While 95,000 liters of oil were confiscated in 2014, the number decreased to 56,000 liters in 2017. Similar to oil, there is also a big increase in the number of confiscated cigarettes, which was more than 10 million packages in 2014, and 100,000 in 2017. The number of confiscated drugs, however, increased dramatically in 2015 and 2016 to 700,000, and decreased back to 100,000 grams in 2017.
On March 29, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım announced that Operation Euphrates Shield had successfully come to an end. Daesh was defeated in its strongholds in the operation and Turkey seized more than 2,000 square kilometers in northern Syria. He added that more than 50,000 refugees would be relocated back to their hometowns. By Feb. 25, 50,000 refugees had returned to their liberated cities, among which are Jarablus, al-Bab, al-Rai and Azaz, all in northern Syria.
Launched on Aug. 24 last year, Operation Euphrates Shield was initially meant to clear the border of the threat of terrorism from Daesh and the YPG. Regarding the operation, Ankara had said it is an act of defense since its cities and towns were under constant attack from both Daesh and the YPG, and that is why they should be driven from the border. By successfully achieving its aim, Turkey managed to force the YPG to withdraw to east of the Euphrates while completely clearing northern Syria of Daesh.
