The U.S. military launched its first strike against Islamic State from Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, the Pentagon said, reflecting a deepening security relationship between Washington and Ankara in the region.
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Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey and the U.S. would soon “start an extensive battle” against the Islamic State group, leading to safer conditions for moderate opposition forces who are fighting the militants.
“We’re seeing that manned and unmanned American planes are arriving and soon we will launch a comprehensive battle against Isis all together”, he said during a trip to Malaysia.
Ankara is now planning a mini-coalition including regional countries Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies Britain and France as well as the United States to fight against IS, which it designated a terror group in 2013.
Cavusoglu said his nation would be stepping up its airstrikes against IS fighters. With the help of U.S. air strikes that attack was repelled.
Last month Turkey launched its first strikes on the militants since the group began its advance through Iraq and Syria in 2013.
In eastern Syria, the U.S. backed coalition destroyed three bridges on the Euphrates river including one close to the Syrian-Iraqi border, according to the Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees activist group.
Since last week, reports from inside Syria have been claiming that al-Nusra has captured at least five fighters trained by the US and coalition forces.
The Turkish official said the new “comprehensive struggle” doesn’t mean a shift from fighting PKK to Islamic State.
A total of 54 Syrian opposition fighters went into the country earlier this month after completing a training regimen at the beginning of July.
Notably, Turkish troops are not preparing for offensive movement; they are holding their ground as political and military leaders try to plan future operations involving Syrian rebels, U.S. and/or Turkish air support and additional diplomatic maneuvering.
Though the United States and Turkey are now formally aligned in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria, it is unclear exactly how that alliance will play out.
“There is a profound general perception in the Arab world that the Obama administration is no less responsible than Iran and Russian Federation in the Syrian crisis”, as Ali Bakir put it. He thought clear signals were being sent that the U.S. values its new relationship with Iran more than anything it might accomplish against either Assad or his even more terrible terrorist enemies in Syria.
The US directly stated Tuesday that it would protect its nascent force of Syrian rebels from Syrian government attacks.
The moves marked a significant increase in Turkey’s role in the fight against the militants, who have seized large areas of Syria and Iraq.
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Ankara hopes that a key pillar of its new deal with Washington – a 100-kilometre (60-mile) IS-free zone along Syria’s border with Turkey – will be secure enough to hold some of Turkey’s 1.8 million Syrian refugees.
