Pentaon: More Syrian rebels captured by Nusra Front

“As part of our agreement with the US, we have made progress regarding the opening up of our bases, particularly Incirlik,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier told state broadcaster TRT, as cited by Reuters.

The closer cooperation comes as Turkey has stepped up attacks against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

About 30 militants were killed in the attack, which U.S airpower helped repel.

Turkey shares a 800-kilometre border with Syria, and a section of its southern frontier abuts directly with territory controlled by the IS group. In fact, he directly contradicted U.S. claims that defensive fire was provided for its proxy force, insisting that American military support only arrived after the battle was over.

Because of Turkey’s relative economic importance in the Middle East and military capability, Erdogan’s flagrant anti-democratic actions have been ignored by most Western governments except for some European parliamentarians who criticize Erdogan’s lack of commitment to authentic democracy and human rights.

Davis said the Pentagon would place manned fighter jets at Incirlik in the near future. The U.S. began flying armed drones over the weekend.

Turkey has also allowed the United States to establish a training site there for the Pentagon’s program to build up a new Syrian force to fight the Islamic State. Asked whether one of the purposes of the zone was to prevent Kurdish Syrian fighters from gaining more ground in northern Syrian, the official declined to answer.

Ankara is now planning a mini-coalition including regional countries Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies Britain and France as well as the United States to fight against IS, which it designated a terror group in 2013.

“Iran and Russia’s contributions must be sought for a political solution in Syria“, he said.

He said “last Friday was the first one”, referring to the air strike. Now, being able to use Icirlik Air Base, this will assist in stepping up the campaign against IS, and the coalition may be able to set back the terrorist group substantially.

Nevertheless, the faction said, “it would not be dragged into any side battle with any faction” and that “it did not and will not fight Jabhat al-Nusra“, adding that its only targets were forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

Russia, another Assad ally, meanwhile said it had not been able to agree on a common approach to fighting Islamic State after its foreign minister met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for the second time in recent days.

Officially called the New Syrian Force (NSF), the first contingent of 54 fighters was trained by the U.S. military at a base in Turkey and sent across the border into Northern Syria.

The Turkish official said the new “comprehensive struggle” doesn’t mean a shift from fighting PKK to Islamic State.