On August 24th, the Turkish Armed Forces began Operation Euphrates Shield to clear its southern border from ISIS control, and to prevent the SDF from connecting with its territory in the Afrin region.
This photo of a turkish Leopard 2A4 was taken outside of Al-Bab while conducting a fire mission, which was my main inspiration to build this model.
AK actually had this specific tank in their book Arab revolutions and border wars, which peaked my interest, because the camouflage pattern is so different from the wide spread Turkish desert pattern.
As I dug deeper in the operation, I found a supposed “leaked” document showing the details of Turkish vehicle losses around Al-Bab.
The firs vehicle on the list is a Leoapard 2A4 with the plate number 195528, which matches with my original inspiration picture. The reason of loss is stated as “Rocket/Mortar strike” around Al-Bab hospital on Aqil hill.
Aqil hill is a strategic location set in the western part of Al-Bab. Due to its strategic positioning the capture of Aqil hill was crucial. On the western side of the hill, there was a hospital which was fortified by ISIS.
On the night of December 21st a group composed of ~150 special operations troops supported by armor infiltrated the hill and captured it. After a day of brutal fighting ISIS attacked them with an SVBIED, which killed 16. After this loss the group began retreating, and in the retreat Leoapard 195528 was hit and disabled by a mortar.
ISIS relased a propaganda video showing the disabled Leoapard whith the license plate clearly visible.
I have chosen the Hobby Boss kit for this project, as it has a good amount of detail and simplicity. I will try to finish it before the upcoming istanbul model show which is in 2,5 weeks.
Wish me luck!
