It has been seven years since Türkiye launched Operation Euphrates Shield in cooperation with the Syrian National Army (SNA) against terrorist groups in northern Syria.

"We salute the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) for eliminating more than 4,000 Daesh terrorists seven years ago," the Defense Ministry said Thursday in a message commemorating the fallen soldiers and veterans of the military offensive.

Türkiye continues working for the facilitation of stability and normalization in Syria and the safe return of Syrians, ministry spokesperson Col. Zeki Aktürk told reporters separately as he briefed the press that a total of 1,102 terrorists from Daesh, the PKK and its Syrian wing YPG have been neutralized so far this year.

Turkish authorities use the term "neutralize" to imply that the terrorists in question surrendered, were killed or captured.

Türkiye is implementing every measure to maintain safety and stability in Syrian regions it is conducting counterterrorism operations and retaliating to terrorist attacks in kind, Aktürk said.

Daesh, which Türkiye recognized as a terrorist group in 2013, has conducted 93 harassment attacks since the start of 2023 in the regions where Turkish security forces are active, according to the spokesperson. "A total of 809 Daesh terrorists were eliminated," he added.

Türkiye launched Operation Euphrates Shield on Aug. 24, 2016, to eliminate terrorists in northern Syria, especially the terrorist organization Daesh, which threatened its security, and to ensure border security within the scope of its right of self-defense stemming from Article 51 of the United Nations Convention.

On the first day of the operation, the town of Jarablus, located on Syrian territory opposite Gaziantep's Karkamış district, was liberated from Daesh terrorists. Lastly, al-Bab was liberated on Feb. 23, 2017.

With the operation, the settlements located between the two towns and spread over an area of 2,055 square kilometers (794 square miles) were cleared of terrorism in 217 days and life is returning to normal.

With the projects carried out in the fields of education, health, infrastructure and service, the population in the area where the operation was carried out reached approximately 2 million.

Türkiye, which attaches great importance to the right to education for those living in areas liberated from Daesh and made safe, played a major role in the opening of approximately 700 schools that were repaired and reconstructed. Approximately 300,000 students are studying in the region, which is currently free from terrorism.

Gaziantep University also carries out higher education activities in the regions of Jarablus, al-Bab and Azaz, which were cleared of terrorism with the operation.

The Ministry of Health carries out activities to normalize life in areas cleared of terrorists, to provide health services needed within the scope of humanitarian and technical assistance, and to minimize the transfer of patients from Syria to Türkiye. In this context, several hospitals serve the people of the region with the contributions of the ministry.

In the town of al-Rai in the north of Syria, a medical school and a vocational school of health services were established under the Health Sciences University.

The General Directorate of Foundations and the Turkish Religious Foundation, with the support of benefactors, restored 289 mosques and built 253 new mosques in the Euphrates Shield Operation region.

Industrial zones have been established in Jarablus, al-Rai, al-Bab and Azaz regions, thereby providing employment and reviving the regional economy.

Rebuilding al-Bab

"After the operation, a local council was established in al-Bab to begin clearing debris," the council’s chair Heysem Ash-Shihabi told Anadolu Agency (AA) on the anniversary of the operation.

The 55 schools rebuilt and restored in the al-Bab region serve 60,000 students, Ash-Shihabi informed, noting that the authorities were currently working to empty other schools that internally displaced people had settled in.

Some 350,000 civilians reside in the town center and countryside of al-Bab where some 170 mosques opened for worship, he added.

According to Ash-Shihabi, the water supply initiative from wells in Susan, al-Rai and Sandi to al-Bab was the council’s biggest project since the city was struggling with water.

Thanking Türkiye and the Turkish people for contributing technical and consultation support to Syria’s local administrations in the region of Operation Euphrates Shield, Ash-Shihabi said: "New roads were constructed and the sewer system was revamped. We’re working hard to rejuvenate al-Bab."

Omar Vaki, the head of the Al-Bab Industrial Zone built jointly by the al-Bab local council and the Gaziantep governorate in 2018, says the zone today hosts factories covering a 16,000-kilometer area.

"One hundred shops and 50 factories are actively working in a 56,100-kilometer-wide industrial zone. By the end of the year, 10,000 jobs will be created," Vaki informed.

The industrial zone holds strategic significance for straddling the area between al-Bab’s city center and the al-Rai border gate, he said.

The area offers everything necessary, from security to roads, internet to camera surveillance systems.

Briquette homes

Over 6 million Syrians now live in nearly 107,000 briquette homes Türkiye has erected in the Afrin district of opposition-held Idlib, but the camps are overcrowded by 2.5 million people. Ankara is currently in negotiations with the Assad regime, hoping to ensure that people from Aleppo, Damascus and southern provinces can return to their homes.

One resident, Nizar Cerban, who was paralyzed during a bomb attack in Idlib’s Marratinnuman district, remembers being driven out of the city in 2012 and having to live in tent camps.

"I have to be near a hospital due to my treatment. My morale was at rock bottom when I was living in a tent. I was very relieved after we moved to these briquette homes last year. We have achieved an honorable life at these homes," he said.

Another al-Bab resident, Abdo al-Bughazi, who is working as a generator mechanic in the city center, is pleased to have returned to his home and place of birth after Operation Euphrates Shield.

"I reopened my shop and began working again. We’re doing well," he said. "The opportunities provided to us here are the dream of everyone living in regions controlled by the regime or elsewhere."