The saga of the Turkish army special forces detachment guarding the Tomb of Suleiman Shah in Syria ended in the early hours of Feb. 22, when the forces were evacuated by a Turkish army task force that entered Syria overnight.

Turkey woke up to the exciting news when Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, accompanied by Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Ozel and Minister of Defense Ismet Yilmaz, announced the operation, saying that with increased clashes in the vicinity of the tomb and the growing threat of the Islamic State (IS), Turkey had to take measures recognized by international law.

Davutoglu said: “The evacuation operation started around 2100 [9 p.m.] last night [Feb. 21]. Our forces crossed the border from two directions. One force went to the Tomb of Suleiman Shah outpost [33 kilometers (20 miles) from the Turkish border] and the other force moved to the Eshme area in Syria to take control of a piece of land and hoisted our flag over it. All the preparations were conducted from the headquarters of the chief of staff with my participation. We entered Syria with 39 tanks, 57 armored vehicles and 572 personnel. Our unit reached the Suleiman Shah outpost at 0030. A religious ceremony was held for the graves there. Anything of spiritual value was removed and our last soldier left the outpost at 4:45 this morning. Our flag was removed from the tomb.”

Davutoglu noted that the tomb, which had been moved twice, in 1939 and 1975, will now be relocated to Eshme, which is now considered Turkish territory.