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.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, among other prominent political figures, met in Doha from Aug. 2 to Aug. 3, ostensibly to negotiate a resolution to the Syrian conflict.
The statements complicate the American strategy in Syria, which has suffered a string of setbacks and delays, deploying just over 50 fighters dedicated to fighting the terror group Islamic State in the year since its programme to train and equip rebels began. However, PKK affiliates in Syria have also been effective in standing up to ISIS, winning limited US military support and praise.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama has been briefed on the efforts to train and equip the Syrian fighters, and the Pentagon has been clear about the obstacles presented by the mission.
But despite al-Nusra’s fierce hostility of ISIL, fighters from the Division 30 soon came under attack by the al-Qaeda loyalists, who believe that the US-backed battalion would end up battling them.
Syria said that any military activity that is not-coordinated with Damascus will breach its sovereignty.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, said his country would hand over its four-point initiative for resolving the Syrian crisis to United Nations soon, the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday. This unresolved problem is considered one of the reasons why Incirlik has not been used yet in active operations by the US-led coalition, despite the urgency of the fight against IS and other groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra.
But there are major challenges.
The U.S. said Wednesday that it had indications that some the rebels have been captured by al-Nusra.
Obama’s requirement that they target militants from Islamic State has sidelined huge segments of the Syrian opposition, which is focusing instead on battling Syrian government forces.
Ankara and Washington also differ about Turkish plans to create a safe zone within Syria to help refugees and keep Syrians Kurds from forming a unified Kurdish region there.
Despite ISIS’s efforts to brand itself as a normal, fully functioning caliphate as covered by this recent HNGN article, the worldwide community has taken yet another decisive step against the militant group, with Turkey officially agreeing to host active fighters against the Islamic State.
“A US drone today carried out one air strike in Syria near Raqa”, a Turkish official said, referring to the town in northern Syria that the terrorist group sees as its capital.
Reading calmly from a note in English, the kneeling man identifies himself as Tomislav Salopek, a married, 30-year-old father of two, adding that Islamic State fighters captured him July 22.
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This is because the notion of fighting Islamic State while ignoring regime forces does not make sense for them, said Tamimi.
