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Al Qaeda-linked fighters have abducted the leader of a U.S.-backed rebel group in north Syria, opposition sources and a monitoring group said, but the Pentagon cast doubt on the reports.

On Wednesday, Islamic State group (IS/ISIS) targeted headquarters of al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda branch in Syria) with a auto bomb attack in the northern countryside of Aleppo, pro-Nusra sources reported.

It was called after Turkish warplanes last week started striking militant targets in Syria in response to an Islamic State group suicide bombing in southern Turkey that left 32 people dead, and another IS attack on Turkish forces, which killed a soldier.

Fabius’ trip followed that of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini the day before, as the bloc and Iran also pursue closer relations after the nuclear deal.

This is a significant change in policy: Ankara joined the anti-ISIL coalition when it was formed last September, but it has been the coalition’s most reluctant member, refusing to get directly involved against the group. More than 30 people were killed.

Turkish officials have said the aim in Syria is to push Islamic State away from the border and their operations will not target Syrian Kurdish groups.

Earlier, Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said they were exploring cooperation in key areas such as the fight against Islamic State militants now that the nuclear deal has been struck. In September, Austrian President Heinz Fischer plans to visit Iran,...

At a Pentagon briefing, Davis said that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter was reviewing the options that came with Turkey’s surprise announcement last week permitting the U.S.to use the Air Force base at Incirlik, Turkey, for strikes against ISIS in Syria, but decisions were...

Ankara, earlier, said PKK attacks on Turkey made peace attempts impossible.

Turkey has also denied, and is now investigating, allegations that their tanks recently fired over the Syrian border and killed members of the Kurdish YPG (also known as the People’s Protection Units).

Turkey, meanwhile, fuelled the growing anger of its Kurdish minority by shelling a Kurdish-held village in northern Syria while its warplanes continued to pound Kurdish targets in northern Iraq.

Zarif urged GCC states to cooperate against the common threat of “terrorism, extremism and sectarianism”.

Iraqi security forces, supported by U.S. airstrikes, have been conducting “shaping” and “isolating” operations in preparation of the Ramadi assault, set to begin between one to eight weeks.

Davutoglu said in a news conference Friday that a “certain amount of headway has been made” in negotiations with the United States regarding the two countries’ cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State. The deal provides the U.S. military with crucial...

Turkey had been reluctant to join U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State group.