ANKARA: The United States on Wednesday'
launched its first air strike From Turkey on an
Islamic state target in Syria ,as Ankara vowed
it was ready to step up its own fight against
jihadists.
"A US drone today carried one airstrike in Syria
near Raqa "a Turkish official told AFP referring
to the town in northern Syria that the IS group
sees as its capital
.
The drone had been taken off from Turkey's
southern Incirik air base which Ankara has
now opened to the US military for armed attacks
on IS taregets in Syria just 200 kilometres (125miles)
away ,the source said..
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier
announced that Turkey was ready to begin a
comperhensive "fight against IS jihadists in Syria
along side of the United States ,after months
of staying on the sidelines of the US-led coalition.
The Pentagon announced this week that US
armed drones had taken off from Incirlik to
conduct missions over northern Syria ,but this
was the first time an airstrike had been carried
out.
Turkey a member of the international coalition
led by its Nato ally Washington ,had so far
declined to take robust action against jihadists
but after a deadly bombing in July in a border
town blamed on suspected IS jihadists it launched
limited strikes against the group in Syria
According to media reports some 30 US fighter
jets are due to arrive at the facility in the coming
days in order to take part in the operation.
Turkey long criticised for failing to stop the flew
of jihadists to and fro across its border with Syria
,has so far concentrated an almost two-week "anti-
terror campaign on the bombing of Kurdish militants
AFP
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