It is understood that the statement is in response to an announcement by the US and Turkey last month, during which the two countries stated their intention to drive IS fighters from a strip of land in northern Syria, providing air cover for Syrian rebels in the area.
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But the US maintained on Tuesday that it does not view efforts to clear IS from the northern Syrian border as a bid to create a “safe zone”. The zone, which extends 25 miles into Turkey, would effectively rid the area of ISIS and permit entry for humanitarian organizations to provide essential food and medical aid.
But he added that Ankara does not endorse the PYD’s activities, and wants the group to be excluded from a Daesh-free zone along Turkey-Syria border.
The Turkish officials also said stated that the train-and-equip program for the Syrian opposition was underway.
Had Nusra remained in the north, “you would have a situation where the U.S. would feel compelled to bomb Al-Qaeda leaders in the same areas that Turkey is seeking to protect, on the very same frontlines that they are trying to move forward”, said Aron Lund, editor of the Carnegie Endowment for worldwide Peace’s Syria in Crisis blog.
But Nusra’s expansion in northern Syria has complicated matters.
The 54 US-trained Syrian fighters who completed their training as part of the US programme have returned to Syria to begin the fight against Daesh. As of Tuesday, one dollar was worth 189 Syrian pounds.
Erkan Iseni, Fadılj Iseni, Bujamin Fetov and Suat Mustafa from Macedonia, Hesabullah Haqani from Pakistan, Mohomed Unais from Australia, Johan Castillo Boens from the United States and Fadhle Al-Sallami from Sweden were all on the list of fighters who joined ISIL.
Other rebel groups are against working with the U.S. and Turkey altogether because they do not believe in the mission.
Turkey’s intelligence agency has been involved in escorting over 60 Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) extremist militants over the Turkish border into Syria, according to a report by the Nokta weekly.
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The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced on July 29 the decision to allow the use of Turkey’s air bases by coalition aircraft, meaning the Incirlik base “could be used any time, whenever needed”. Several F-16 fighters jets, along with about 300 U.S. personnel, were deployed to the base last week.
