Share

US F-16 jets arrive in Turkey to fight IS

Air Force officials have not said how long the fighter jets will remain at the Incirlik Air Base, or whether more planes would be sent to Turkey to support the mission against Islamic State.

Advertisement

The new jets are expected to arrive in the next few days.

Turkish police and gendarme held 17 people who were allegedly supporters of Daesh in an anti-terror operation early Friday in the western province of Manisa, police said. “This follows Turkey´s decision to host the deployment of US aircraft conducting counter-ISIL operations”.

There are no U.S. aircraft permanently stationed at Incirlik, one of the smallest U.S. Air Forces in Europe installations in terms of personnel. This would put U.S. jets only a 30-minute flight from ISIS targets in Syria.

The United States has already been using drones from Incirlik to strike IS targets in Syria, supporting the Turkish air campaign against the militants.

Turkey, a member of the global coalition led by its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Washington, stepped up action against the militants after a deadly bombing in July in a border town.

Advertisement

A total of 8 U.S. military airplanes and around 300 ground personnel arrived on Sunday at the İncirlik airbase in Turkey for the war against ISIL according to local news reports.

US deploying 6 F-16s to Turkey for IS fight NATO mission