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Why is Turkey so focused on Syria's al-Bab?

From a military point of view, al-Bab is a strategically unimportant town in the Syrian conflict, but that hasn't stopped Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from obsessing over the town's liberation from the Islamic State.

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Syrian opposition fighters fire toward positions held by Islamic State jihadis in al-Bab, Syria, Dec. 13, 2016. — SALEH ABO GHALOUN/AFP/Getty Images

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