With the liberation of Halava on Friday, the number of villages in northern Syria liberated from the terrorist People's Protection Units (YPG) by Turkey's Operation Peace Spring grew to 14.

Halava, southeast of Tal Abyad, was liberated by Turkish forces, following the village of Tal Half and Asfar Najjar in the Ras al-Ayn district, both liberated earlier in the day.

Turkish forces have advanced 8 kilometers into Syria near Tal Abyad and 4 kilometers near Ras al-Ayn, Vice President Fuat Oktay said later on Friday.

The Defense Ministry said Friday night that the total number of YPG terrorists neutralized in the operation has reached 399.

Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, the third in a series of cross-border anti-terror operations in northern Syria targeting terrorists affiliated with Daesh and the PKK's Syrian offshoot the People's Protection Units (YPG), on October 9 at 4 p.m.

The operation, conducted in line with the country's right to self-defense borne out of international law and U.N. Security Council resolutions, aims to establish a terror-free safe zone for Syrians return in the area east of the Euphrates River controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is dominated by YPG terrorists.

The PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union — has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, resulting in the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

Turkey has long decried the threat from terrorists east of the Euphrates in northern Syria, pledging military action to prevent the formation of a "terrorist corridor" there.

Since 2016, Turkey's Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, making it possible for nearly 400,000 Syrians who fled the violence to return home.