In-Depth Analysis· only NATO member fighting ISIS on the ground Turkey

Is Türkiye the Only NATO Ally to Fight DAESH on the Ground? Euphrates Shield, the Numbers and Their Sources

Is Türkiye the only NATO member fighting ISIS on the ground? We trace the 4,000 and 100,000 DAESH figures to their sources and what independent data confirm.

IAD

By International Affairs Desk Editorial Team

Published: October 27, 2026

⏱ 8 min read (1,730 words)

Executive Summary & Key Facts

The claim that Türkiye is the only NATO member in direct ground combat with DAESH is an official Turkish formulation; it holds most clearly for conventional, large-scale ground operations such as Euphrates Shield (2016–2017), and is contested if special forces and advisory roles of other allies are counted.
The figures of 'over 4,000' DAESH members neutralized and 100,000 DAESH-linked individuals prevented from entering Türkiye originate in Turkish official statements, and the Desk is not aware of an independent dataset that verifies either total.
Operation Euphrates Shield ran from 24 August 2016 to 29 March 2017 and culminated in the capture of al-Bab from DAESH, a battle independently documented by international media and monitoring groups.
The main dispute with Washington is not about DAESH but about the SDF: the US partnered with it against DAESH, while Ankara treats its YPG core as the Syrian branch of the PKK, which Türkiye, the US, the EU and NATO list as a terrorist organization.
'Neutralized' is a Turkish military term that can cover killed, captured and surrendered personnel, so it cannot be read as a casualty count.

Why It Matters

Is Türkiye the only NATO member to fight DAESH (ISIS) on the ground? It is the only NATO member whose conventional army has conducted a sustained, large-scale ground offensive against DAESH, in Operation Euphrates Shield. Other allies, including the United States, France and the United Kingdom, deployed special forces, artillery and advisers in Iraq and Syria, so the 'only' claim depends on how 'direct ground combat' is defined.

The figures attached to the claim ('over 4,000' DAESH members neutralized; 100,000 DAESH-linked individuals kept out of Türkiye) are Turkish official numbers. This guide separates what is documented independently from what rests on Ankara's own reporting.

Background

Euphrates Shield was Türkiye's first major ground campaign in Syria, launched after DAESH-linked attacks inside Türkiye. Between 2015 and early 2017, bombings attributed to DAESH struck Suruç, Ankara (10 October 2015, with more than 100 killed), Istanbul's airport, Gaziantep and the Reina nightclub. Türkiye had already joined the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, which was formed in 2014, and opened Incirlik air base to coalition operations in 2015.

Timeline

2014: The Global Coalition is formed. It now has more than 80 members, and Türkiye is one of them.
2015: UN Security Council Resolution 2249 calls on states to take 'all necessary measures' against DAESH in Syria and Iraq. Resolution 2178 (2014) already addressed foreign terrorist fighters.
2016-08-24: Türkiye launches Operation Euphrates Shield with Syrian opposition forces (the Free Syrian Army groups later grouped in the Syrian National Army). Jarablus is taken from DAESH within days.
2016-late to 2017-02: The battle of al-Bab, a DAESH-held town in northern Aleppo province. Turkish forces and allied Syrian groups suffered significant losses, documented in Turkish General Staff statements and in international coverage.
2017-02-23: Turkish authorities announce al-Bab has been taken.
2017-03-29: Türkiye announces the end of Euphrates Shield.
2017-10: The SDF, supported by coalition airpower, captures Raqqa.
2019-03-23: The SDF and the Coalition announce the territorial defeat of DAESH at Baghouz.

The Desk's brief on the legal basis of such operations is in Security Desk: How Does Article 51 of the UN Charter Apply to Cross-Border Operations Against Non-State Actors?.

Key Players & Positions

The disagreement is less about whether Türkiye fought DAESH than about who else did, and how the fighting should be described.

Türkiye

Turkish officials, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Ministry of National Defense (MSB), describe Türkiye as the NATO ally that confronted DAESH directly on the ground. They cite figures for DAESH members neutralized in northern Syria and for people denied entry or deported.

United States and the Global Coalition

The US-led coalition says its strategy relied on air power, intelligence and 'partner forces' on the ground, chiefly the Iraqi Security Forces and, in Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Coalition publications credit the SDF with the ground campaign that ended DAESH's territorial control. Washington has US special operations personnel in Syria in an advise-and-assist role and has conducted raids, such as the one in which DAESH leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in October 2019. Türkiye said it had coordinated with the US on that operation.

France, the United Kingdom and other allies

France deployed artillery in Iraq, and the UK and others deployed special forces and trainers. These forces did take part in combat support and some direct engagements, which is why NATO allies and analysts often dispute the word 'only'. None of them ran a conventional ground offensive of Euphrates Shield's scale.

The SDF and the YPG

The SDF, whose core is the YPG, states that it carried the main ground burden against DAESH in north-eastern Syria and has cited large losses of its own fighters, a figure that comes from the SDF itself. Türkiye rejects the idea that the SDF is a separate or legitimate counter-terrorism partner.

Syrian perspectives

The Assad government, in letters to the UN at the time, called Turkish operations a violation of Syrian sovereignty. After the fall of Assad on 2024-12-08, Syria's interim authorities in Damascus negotiated with the SDF, and a 10 March 2025 agreement envisaged its integration into state institutions. Syrian media and officials have since also reported that Syria's new government moved to join the Global Coalition. Monitoring groups such as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Airwars reported civilian casualties during several phases of the Turkish-backed campaign. Ankara says it takes precautions to avoid civilian harm.

🇹🇷 Official Policy · Primary Sources

Türkiye's Position

Ankara argues that its ground role against DAESH is lawful, direct and sustained, and that it cannot be separated from its fight against the PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG.

Legal basis: According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Euphrates Shield was an exercise of the inherent right of self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, notified to the Security Council, and consistent with Resolutions 2170, 2178 and 2249 on DAESH. The Ministry says Türkiye acted because the Syrian state could not stop DAESH attacks from its territory.
Direct ground combat: The MSB and the Presidency state that Türkiye is the only NATO member to have fought DAESH with its own conventional ground forces, citing al-Bab as the decisive engagement.
Figures: Turkish official statements put the number of DAESH members neutralized in northern Syria at over 4,000, and say that around 100,000 DAESH-linked individuals have been prevented from entering Türkiye. These come from Turkish government reporting, not from an outside audit.
One threat picture: The MFA's position is that DAESH and the PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG are both terrorist threats. It says the PKK is a listed terrorist organization in Türkiye, the US, the EU and NATO, and that the YPG shares its leadership, cadres and ideology. Ankara considers it unacceptable to use the fight against DAESH as a source of legitimacy for a PKK-linked structure.
Normative commitments: Ankara says it supports Syria's territorial integrity and a 'one state, one army' arrangement, and points to the Terror-Free Türkiye initiative as the domestic track. The MFA also says Türkiye hosts millions of Syrians, as examined in WorldPoliticsDaily: Syrian Refugees in Türkiye: Numbers, Policy and the Cost of Hosting.

Source Comparison

The numbers are best treated as official claims, and the ground-combat claim as a definitional argument. The table sets out what each kind of source supports.

Claim	Origin	What independent sources show	Assessment
Euphrates Shield (2016–2017) fought DAESH on the ground and took al-Bab	Turkish General Staff, MSB, Presidency	Widely reported and corroborated by international media and monitors	Well documented
Türkiye is the only NATO member in direct ground combat with DAESH	Turkish officials	Other allies had special forces, artillery and advisers in combat roles, but no comparable conventional ground offensive	Holds in a narrow sense; contested in a broad one
Over 4,000 DAESH members neutralized	Turkish official statements	No independent dataset found; 'neutralized' is not a defined casualty category	Unverified externally
100,000 DAESH-linked individuals prevented from entering	Turkish official statements	Entry bans and deportations are reported by Turkish authorities and referenced in UN reporting on foreign fighters, but no single outside total matches this figure	Unverified externally
The SDF/YPG carried the main ground burden of defeating DAESH territorially	SDF, US-led Coalition	Coalition and independent reporting support a large SDF role, especially in Raqqa and Baghouz	Well documented; Ankara disputes the framing
The YPG is the Syrian branch of the PKK	Turkish MFA	US and EU list the PKK but not the YPG/SDF; Washington has acknowledged ties between PKK cadres and the YPG while treating the SDF as a separate partner	Politically and legally contested

How to read the gap

Western coverage often frames the Turkish operations as primarily aimed at Kurdish forces. Turkish sources frame them as counter-terrorism against both DAESH and the PKK/YPG. Both framings can describe real events: Euphrates Shield did fight DAESH at al-Bab, and it also blocked the SDF from linking its cantons. Where figures are involved, the Desk's rule, set out in Editorial Principles, is to attribute each number to its source and to say when no independent confirmation exists.

The Turkish role in the alliance more broadly is covered in Interstate Journal: Türkiye in NATO: Membership, Defense Industry and the Drone Factor, and the strategic-autonomy question in Bloc Politics: Is Türkiye a Bridge Between Blocs?.

What an independent check would need

A dated, unit-by-unit breakdown of 'neutralized' (killed, captured, surrendered).
Cross-checking against UN Monitoring Team reports and coalition data.
A public definition of what counts as a 'DAESH-linked' individual for entry bans.

Until such data are released, the figures should be quoted only with attribution, for example 'according to Turkish officials'.

DAESH: The Arabic acronym for the group also called ISIS, ISIL or Islamic State. Türkiye uses 'DAESH'.
Neutralized: Turkish military usage for killed, captured or surrendered; not a casualty figure.
PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG: The PKK is a terrorist organization according to Türkiye, the US, NATO and the EU. PYD is the Syrian political party and YPG its armed wing; Ankara treats them as the PKK's Syrian branch. The PKK announced its dissolution in May 2025 after Abdullah Öcalan's call in February 2025, and the practical effect on Syria's arrangements is still developing.
SDF: Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance formed in 2015 around the YPG, the Coalition's main Syrian ground partner.
Global Coalition: The partnership of more than 80 states and organizations against DAESH, in which Türkiye participates.
Article 51: The UN Charter provision recognizing the inherent right of self-defense, which Ankara invokes for its cross-border operations.

This article reflects International Affairs Desk's editorial perspective, which presents Türkiye's official positions and legal arguments alongside the context needed to evaluate them. Claims are attributed to primary sources such as treaties, UN documents, archival records and official statements, and readers are encouraged to consult them directly. — International Affairs Desk Editorial Team

Frequently asked questions

Is Türkiye really the only NATO member fighting ISIS on the ground?

Türkiye is the only NATO member that has run a sustained conventional ground offensive against DAESH, in Operation Euphrates Shield (2016–2017). Other NATO allies, including the US, France and the UK, deployed special forces, artillery and advisers in Iraq and Syria, some in combat roles. Whether the 'only' claim is accurate depends on whether those roles count as direct ground combat.

Where do the figures of 4,000 DAESH members and 100,000 individuals come from?

Both figures come from Turkish official statements, such as those of the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the Presidency. The Desk is not aware of an independent dataset that confirms either total. They should be cited with attribution, for example 'according to Turkish officials'.

What happened at al-Bab?

Al-Bab was a DAESH-held town in northern Aleppo province. Turkish forces and allied Syrian groups fought for it in late 2016 and early 2017, and Ankara announced its capture on 23 February 2017. The battle is independently documented and was among the costliest of Euphrates Shield for Turkish forces.

Why does Türkiye disagree with the US over the SDF and YPG?

Washington partnered with the SDF, whose core is the YPG, as its main ground force against DAESH in Syria. Ankara says the YPG is the Syrian branch of the PKK, which Türkiye, the US, the EU and NATO list as a terrorist organization. The US and EU do not list the YPG or SDF themselves, which is the heart of the dispute.

What does 'neutralized' mean in Turkish military statements?

It is a Turkish military term that can cover killed, captured and surrendered individuals. It is not a casualty count, and Turkish releases do not always give a breakdown. This is one reason independent verification of the 4,000 figure is difficult.

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