Turkey, US conclude talks on anti-IS operations

Daesh terrorists took another two villages further north in Aleppo province, near the border with Turkey.

Last month, Turkey had made a preliminary step toward joining the counter-offensive by allowing US planes to use Incirlik Air Base to attack Isis positions in Syria.

Bilgic added that the ministry expected joint air operations with the U.S. against Daesh to start “soon”.

ISIS militants have overrun a handful of Syrian villages near the border with Turkey and threatened to drive U.S-backed rebels out of a key nearby city, activists and a rebel commander said on Thursday.

“When it comes to their actions against the PKK, we certainly recognize their rights to defend themselves”, he said.

The statement was attributed to a senior member of the prime minister’s office. US Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James also told reporters in Washington on Monday that the discussions with Turkey are “ongoing”.

Both Ankara and Washington had given this message directly to the PYD, he said.

“We will continue to help the Syrian opposition and participate in the coalition in Iraq ensuring it is more effective”, he said. The US disagrees with Turkey on that front. “This is unacceptable”, Cavusoglu said.

He said cooperation on that is “a work in progress”.

Diplomats familiar with the plans have said that cutting ISIL’s access to the Turkish border, across which the terrorist group has been able to bring foreign fighters and supplies, could be a game-changer.

“But I can not confirm the results of these talks at this point”.

Ankara is waging a two-pronged bombing campaign against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels as well as IS militants, following a wave of violence inside Turkey.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said Tuesday that the agreement calls for Turkey to be fully integrated into the coalition air campaign. “Nusra Front left these two villages (Kharjala and al-Dahla) on the Turkish border a few weeks ago and gave them to the Islamic Front”, he said when asked who had previously controlled the villages. The FSA led the initial military uprising against the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad before being eclipsed by a number of jihadist and Islamist groups, including the Islamic State. To cover this fact the U.S. defense and state departments usually very sophisticated in concealing or justifying their failures were easy to accept their mistake this time. He did not present particulars, however he has stated an in depth, coordinated operation towards the militant group would begin quickly.