Pro-government fighters of Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi thwarted on Wednesday a planned attack by Islamic State militants on security forces in a village on the Iraqi-Syrian border, leaving 43 terrorists dead and wounded.

UK Middle East Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa, Alistair Burt, said the withdrawal of American troops from Syria should not affect the fight against the Islamic State, nor result in Turkish incursions against Syrian Kurds.

The Turkish military deployed tanks and armored vehicles to the border province of Hatay on Jan. 13, as Turkey continues its preparations for a planned military operation in the east of River Euphrates in Syria against ISIL and the YPG, which it sees as the Syrian branch of the PKK.