US denies Euphrates Shield hindered anti-Daesh efforts

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

The U.S.-led coalition on Tuesday denied that Turkey’s ongoing operation in Syria has in any way effected anti-Daesh efforts.

“It's had no impact on our ability to continue to pressure Daesh and hammer the enemy across the battle space,” spokesman Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian told reporters via Skype.

Operation Euphrates Shield, which was launched Aug. 24 by Turkey, aims at improving security, supporting coalition forces and eliminating the terror threat along Turkey’s border using Free Syrian Army fighters backed by Turkish armor, artillery and jets.

The Syrian town of al-Rai and Jarabulus city were recently cleared of Daesh terrorists as part of the operation.

Harrigian said the U.S. has personnel working to “deconflict” with Turkey as it carries out air raids in support of Euphrates Shield.

“We actually have folks that are up in their air operation center so that we have good connectivity with our people to work that deconfliction, and in fact, to give us notification that they're going to be executing operations up there," he said.

"This is a mechanism that we've been leveraging for a while now and has proven in most cases," he said "to ensure that we're able to have appropriate notice and then work the deconfliction."