Nevertheless, the faction said, “it would not be dragged into any side battle with any faction” and that “it did not and will not fight Jabhat al-Nusra“, adding that its only targets were forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
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A spokesman in Washington said the raid by an unmanned drone was launched on Monday from the Incirlik air base near the southern city of Adana in Turkey, a U.S. ally with the second largest armed forces in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
At the time, there were some 400 U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq.
Some of the fighters may have left the base, while the rest stayed behind to look after the U.S.-supplied weapons and communications equipment they had been given.
“Our means and our current level of effort are not aligned with our ends”, said Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John McCain, the Arizona Republican who himself flew combat missions in Vietnam. 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.
The closer cooperation comes as Turkey has stepped up attacks against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The Islamic State group has strongholds along Turkey’s border with Syria.
Washington’s only concession to Turkey in this regard has been to refuse PYD leader Saleh Muslim a visa to the United States. “Turkey has largely achieved its first goal in the struggle against ISIS, which was to push the ISIS elements away from the Turkish border”. Turkey, long criticised for failing to stop the flow of jihadists to and fro across its border with Syria, has so far concentrated an nearly two-week “anti-terror” campaign on the bombing of Kurdish militants. “How can we consider the West to be honest?” Instead, once they are trained they return to the Syrian rebel groups that the U.S. has been working with. “Whatever the cost, we will continue our struggle in this regard”, he said angrily June 26.
Until now, Turkey has been largely criticized for being a reluctant partner in the US-led coalition arrayed to defeat ISIS. Kirby’s remarks, which were quickly picked up by the Turkish press, ruffled official feathers in Ankara.
Turkey summoned the Arab League’s envoy in Ankara to the foreign ministry in a show of protest, the ministry said in a statement. Nusra’s leader has denied the group exists. However, PKK affiliates in Syria have also been effective in standing up to ISIS, winning limited US military support and praise.
But a succession of incidents last week, including a Nusra attack and two separate, successful kidnappings that targeted the rebels, have made it clear that assumption was wrong.
“Turkey joined this fight to allay the impression that it has been assisting IS”. It also would not comment on the status of the U.S.-trained fighters.
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Not all of the 60 rebels who have been trained by the United States were at the site of Friday’s attack, one official said.
