Nusra Front Withdraws From ISIS Frontier, Citing Turkish Offensive

Turkey said on Tuesday it had agreed with the United States on terms for setting up a “safe zone” inside northern Syria as part of their campaign against Islamic State militants, but the US State Department denied there was any such agreement.

Even if ground forces don’t receive direct military support from the US, Stein said they could benefit from US-led air cover over the border area.

“What our minister pointed out is that Turkish aircraft were not involved in Wednesday’s operations”, said Bilgic.

While it has dealt with many issues tied to ISIS, Turkey had resisted opening its bases for U.S.-led airstrikes in part because they were working with Kurdish fighters also battling the Islamist extremist group.

The United States is currently training and equipping moderate rebels in Syria, but that program may be up in the air due to concerns over a recent al Qaeda attack on a small group of the first trained and equipped rebels in northern Syria.

In its statement Tuesday, Ahrar al-Sham said safe zone should have been set up earlier, adding that its delay “was behind the death of tens of thousands of Syrians”. “Strikes were conducted”, Pentagon spokeswoman Commander Elissa Smith said.

Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate Al-Nusra Front announced a surprise withdrawal from its front lines against its jihadist rival Islamic State in areas along Syria’s northern border with Turkey.

The U.S. last week began flying armed, remotely piloted aircraft from the Turkish base.

A Nusra Front statement dated Sunday criticized a Turkish-U.S. plan to drive Islamic State from the Syrian-Turkish border area, saying the aim was to serve “Turkey’s national security” rather than the fight against President Bashar al-Assad.

Mamun al-Khatib, director of Shahba, an Aleppo-based activist news network, said in a Facebook post that “an IS cell infiltrated the town of Marea and its fighters bombed and fired upon civilians”. US drones had previously executed a single lethal airstrike in Syria but this was the first time manned US fighter jets had carried out raids after taking off from Turkey’s strategically located Incirlik base.

This August 9, 2015 US Air Force handout photo shows F-16 Fighting Falcons from Aviano Air Base, Italy as they arrive at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.

Incirlik, near the Turkish city of Adana, is about 285 miles (460 kilometers) from Islamic State’s self-declared capital of Raqqa in Syria.

Turkey has been active in the fight against the Islamic State, launching airstrikes at the group last month.