"The entire border of northern Syria -- 75 percent of it -- has now been shut off. And we are entering an operation with the Turks to shut off the other remaining 98 kilometers [61 miles]," he said in an interview with CNN.
Kerry arrived in Paris on Monday to pay his respects to the victims of Friday's attacks that killed 129 people.
The area where the operations will take place is now controlled by the radical Islamists. The United States and Turkey hope that by sweeping ISIL from that border zone they can deprive it of a smuggling route which has seen its ranks swell with foreign fighters and its coffers boosted by illicit trade.
Under a long-discussed joint US-Turkish plan, moderate Syrian rebels, trained by the US army, would be expected to fight ISIL on the ground and help coordinate airstrikes by the US coalition, launched from Turkish air bases, under the strategy drawn up by Washington and Ankara.
- Diplomats familiar with the plans have said cutting off one of ISIL 's lifelines could be a game-changer in that corner of Syria's complex war. The core of the rebels, who number less than 60, would be highly equipped and be able to call in close air support when needed, they say.
But there are major challenges.
Turkey is distrustful of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which has proved a useful US ally in fighting ISIL. It controls adjacent territory on the eastern side of the Euphrates river, just across from Karkamış and the jihadist-held town of Jarablus. Ankara wants it to advance no further and considers the Euphrates a red line not to be crossed.
Earlier, speaking to reporters after meeting with French President Francois Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Paris, Kerry said increased coordination with Russia in the fight against ISIL would require progress in the political process to end the Syrian war.
Kerry said agreements reached last week at the Vienna peace talks on Syria meant the country could be "weeks away, conceivably, of a big transition."...
todayszaman.com by Reuters
17/11/15
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