Turkish warplanes pounded Islamic State targets in Syria and police detained hundreds of suspected militants across Turkey on Friday, a sign that Ankara may have shed its hesitancy in taking a front-line role against jihadist fighters. The base is about 400 kilometres north-west of Raqqa, Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria, shortening the distance for US fighter jets, which had been using bases in Arab countries.
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In a statement of facts regarding the social-media prohibit, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu newscast agent put it was at forced due to distribution expertise relating to the Monday’s committing suicide attack and needs what is the agent considered “illegal huge routines”.
The agreement to let the US use the Incirlik airbase, following months of negotiations, was finalised in a phone call between President Barack Obama and Mr Erdogan this week.
As well as IS and the PKK, the operation targeted suspected members of the PKK’s youth wing the The Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) and the Marxist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party Front (DHKP-C), Anatolia said.
Turkey, which spans the intersection of Europe and Asia and borders the Middle East, had long been reluctant to join the U.S.-led coalition against the extremist group.
The Turkish government official said the government had entered the phase of “pre-emptive defense” against Islamic State, which included neutralizing perceived threats across the border. Turkey’s government confirmed the reports Friday, stating that “Turkey and the US have decided to further deepen their ongoing cooperation in the fight” against ISIS.
A Turkish soldier stands next to an armoured personnel carrier securing a road near the border with Syria, as seen from the outskirts of the village of Seve, east of the town of Kilis, in southeastern Turkey, Friday, July 24, 2015.
The operation came after the first major cross-border clashes between Turkey and I.S. jihadists on Thursday that left one Turkish soldier and one militant dead.
Earlier this week, a suicide bombing blamed on IS militants killed 32 people in Suruc, a Turkish town near the Syrian border.
Turkish officials say the Suruc bombing could be retaliation by IS for Turkey’s recent crackdown on IS operations in the country.
Four Turkish tanks from the fifth armored brigade responded by opening fire on I.S. targets in Syria in the most serious cross-border clashes yet between the two sides.
The air strikes mean that Turkey is really joining a coalition, of which it had only been a nominal member until now.
News of the military operations further unnerved jittery investors, helping send the lira TRYTOM=D3 down almost 4 percent on the week.
The agency quotes the private Dogan news agency as saying that up to 35 militants were killed in one of the strikes. “But action won’t likely be taken unprompted”. Since the U.S. launched its war against Islamic State last fall, Turkey’s government has opted to sporadically crack down on the jihadists, but avoiding overt confrontation to limit the risk of retaliatory attacks on Turkish soil.
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Access to that base would put the warplanes of the U.S., its surveillance aircraft and drones much closer to the positions of the militants.
