“Now we are training and equipping the moderate (Syrian) opposition together with the United States, and we will also start our fight against Daesh very effectively soon,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters at the start of the meeting with Kerry, using the Arab acronym for the militant group.
“Then the ground will be safer for the moderate opposition that are fighting Daesh on the ground,” he added.
The two envoys met at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of a regional security gathering hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Washington has long been pushing its long-time ally Turkey to step up the fight against the so-called ISIS, something Ankara had until recently been reluctant to do.
That position changed after deadly attacks inside Turkey, some of which were blamed on ISIS.
Turkey has since carried out a series of air strikes, claiming they were targeting militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq as well as ISIS militants.
But observers say PKK fighters been on the receiving end of far more airstrikes that ISIS.
Last month Ankara also said it would allow U.S. warplanes to launch attacks against Islamic State from Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey.
The moves marked a significant increase in Turkey’s role in the fight against the militants, who have seized large areas of Syria and Iraq.
Turkey shares a 500-mile (800-kilometer) border with Syria, and a section of its southern frontier abuts directly with territory controlled by the ISIS group.
AFP
almanar.com.lb
5/8/15
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Syria says fight against ISIL must include Damascus...
ReplyDeleteSyria supports any efforts to combat Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) if they are coordinated with Damascus but anything else would “be a breach of Syrian sovereignty”, state television quoted the country’s foreign minister as saying on Aug. 5.
Walid al-Moualem made the comments during a visit to top regional ally Tehran to meet with his Iranian counterpart, the TV channel said.
The United States said earlier this week it had decided to allow airstrikes to defend Syrian rebels trained by the U.S. military from any attackers, even if the enemies were the Syrian army and allied fighters.
The United States said on Aug. 4 that it had indications that Syrian rebels trained by the U.S. military were captured by fighters from al Qaeda’s Syria wing, Nusra Front, in the latest blow to a fledgling program at the center of America’s war strategy.
The Pentagon said in a statement it was monitoring the situation but had “no further details to provide.” .............http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syria-says-fight-against-isil-must-include-damascus.aspx?pageID=238&nID=86502&NewsCatID=352
5/8/15
Turkey offers U.S. access to other air bases: diplomat ...
ReplyDeleteTurkey has offered the United States additional access to its air bases in the southeast after it accepted Washington’s long-pending request to use the Muslim NATO member’s Incirlik base in Adana province to launch airstrikes against Islamist militants, an Ankara-based senior Western diplomat told a Turkish daily in an interview published Thursday.
“There is an offer [from the Turkish side] to make use of additional bases,” the diplomat, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, told Today’s Zaman.
Military officials from the Turkish and U.S. sides have been examining the offer, he added.
Turkey changed its position after a bombing in a border town and killing of a Turkish soldier in cross-frontier clashes.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said on Wednesday the U.S. military had carried out its first drone strike from a base in Turkey against ISIS targets in Syria. Thursday’s statement said the strikes were carried out by fighter planes, fighter-attack aircraft and drones, but did not say where they took off from.
Before allowing the U.S. to use Incirlik, U.S. used Turkish bases only to fly surveillance flights over Syria.
Also read: The United States and it allies conducted 27 airstrikes against ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq.
alarabiya.net
7/8/15