The decision was disclosed on Thursday, a day after a telephone call between President Barack Obama and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, and follows long-time reluctance by Ankara to become engaged in the fight against ISIL fighters.
Turkey has faced increasing insecurity along its 900km border with Syria. Earlier on Thursday it fired tank shells across the frontier after fire from ISIL fighters killed a Turkish soldier near Kilis, an area where Ankara had recently sent reinforcements.
The ability to fly manned bombing raids out of Incirlik, a major base used by both US and Turkish forces, against targets in nearby Syria could be a big advantage. Such flights have had to fly mainly from the Gulf.
The US officials declined to give details of the agreement with Turkey, and spokesmen declined to confirm it officially, saying it was up to Turkey to confirm.
Turkish officials declined to comment on the report.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama and Erdogan agreed to "deepen" cooperation in the fight against ISIL.
Asked specifically about the use of Incirlik, he told reporters: "I'm not able to talk about some of those issues because of specific operations security concerns"... Source: Al Jazeera
24/7/15
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Turkey bombs Islamic State targets in Syria...
ReplyDeleteTurkish planes have for the first time carried out air strikes against Islamic State (IS) group targets in Syria.
Police also launched raids against IS and Kurdish militants across the country, arresting 251 people, the Prime Minister's office said.
On Thursday, Turkish forces exchanged fire with IS fighters near the Syrian border. One Turkish soldier was killed.
Turkey will now let the US launch air strikes against IS from the Incirlik air base, US officials have said.
The raids in Istanbul, where 100 properties were searched, involved 5,000 officers. Members of the youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and of a far-left group were also arrested.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said there were also arrests in the cities of Ankara and Izmir and in Sanliurfa province, near the Syrian border.
In a separate statement, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's office said that F-16 jets had hit three IS targets in Syria.............http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33646314
24/7/14
Trois F16 de l'armée turque ont bombardé des positions de l'EI en Syrie, a annoncé Ankara. Parallèlement, la police a interpellé 251 personnes dans le cadre d'une opération anti-terroriste menée dans tout le pays...
ReplyDeleteTrois chasseurs F16 de l'armée de l'air turque ont bombardé, tôt dans la matinée du vendredi 24 juillet, plusieurs objectifs tenus par le groupe État islamique (EI) en territoire syrien, ont annoncé les services du Premier ministre de la Turquie.
Les avions turcs ont frappé "deux quartiers généraux et un point de ralliement" des combattants de l'EI avec des missiles avant de regagner leur base de Diyarbakir (sud-est), ajoute le communiqué publié par les services d'Ahmet Davutoglu.
Selon l'agence de presse Dogan, les cibles étaient localisées autour du village de Havar, face à la province turque de Kilis (sud).....france24.com