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Turkey, a member of the worldwide coalition led by its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 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...

“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.

Turkey and the U.

“It’s a very, very delicate and complex balancing act that the U.S. will need to undertake to keep Turkey on side in the fight against the Islamic State while continuing military cooperation and coordination with the YPG in northern Syria“, Hakura said.

The Prime Minister said the agreement with the U.S. on opening Turkish bases for allied jets fulfilled some of Turkey’s “concerns and expectations”.

With the help of U.S. air strikes, the Kurds have routed Islamic State fighters from Syrian border towns like Kobani and Tal Abyad and have asserted control of much of Syria’s more than 500-mile border with Turkey. But now, many accuse Erdogan of pandering to Turkish...

But in an unexpected twist, Turkey simultaneously started shelling Kurdish rebels in Iraq, where Kurds have proved unusually capable of wresting back territory from the Islamic State militants with the help of air support from the U.S.-led coalition.

The seizure of Al Anad military base, once the hub of a U.S. drone war against Al Qaeda’s potent Yemen branch, would mark a significant gain for the Saudi Arabian-backed troops fighting to reclaim large tracts of territory from Shiite Muslim rebels known as Houthis.

Meanwhile, Division 30 accused Nusra Front fighters of abducting its leader and several other members earlier this week.

Despite losing Aden, the rebels still control large swathes of Yemen, including Sanaa which they overran last September.

Fighters loyal to Yemen’s deposed president seized about 10 southern villages from Houthi forces on Tuesday, maintaining momentum in their offensive a day after capturing the country’s biggest air base, residents and loyalist sources said.

The new “defensive” air power strategy was reportedly first implemented on Friday, when U.S.-backed rebels came under fire from al-Nusra Front, a group closely affiliated with al-Qaeda.

The drone strikes come after a deeply embarrassing incident last week when a group of rebels who had gone through the training program were captured nearly immediately upon entering the country by Nusra fighters.

U.S. warplanes already struck last week, bombarding Al Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels who had attacked the Pentagon-backed force.

The new flight missions from Turkey’s base come as the U.S. launched attacks against non-Islamic State forces for the first time, according to Davis.