US begins manned flights from Turkish air base

US warplanes on Wednesday carried out their first air strikes on IS targets in Syria after taking off from a Turkish base, kicking off a key new phase in the campaign against the militants.

Its use would enable the U.S.-led coalition to conduct better surveillance over Syria and act quicker on intelligence than when it was limited to launching flights from places like Iraq, Jordan and the Persian Gulf states. Turkey’s cooperation in this regard, paved by a July deal between U.S. President Barack Obama and Erdogan allowing for the expanded access, should be a big help.

The United States has launched its first airstrikes into Syria against the terrorist group ISIL from neighboring Turkey, the Pentagon says.

Turkish officers have stated over the previous few weeks that the federal government determined to determine the protected zone as a way of securing its border and assuaging the humanitarian disaster for Syrian refugees in Turkey.

“For a long, long time Turkey has struggled mightily to stay out of this fight because they are so vulnerable”, Harmer said.

Six F-16 strike fighters were deployed to Incirlik Airbase near Adana in southeastern Turkey earlier this week.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant warriors killed no less than 37 opponent agitators in an overnight assault in Syria’s Aleppo region and 20 contenders stay missing, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.

Speaking to the Aksiyon weekly in an exclusive interview, Tanış explained that despite Israel’s covert support for Turkey’s plan to create a safe zone in northern Syria, the US is reluctant to support Turkey in this endeavor.

Other rebel groups are against working with the U.S. and Turkey altogether because they do not believe in the mission.

“We had no idea who the Turkish fighters were, their call signs, what frequencies they were using, their altitude or what they were squawking [to identify the jets on radar]”, the source said.

The response from Washington came with Mark Toner from the US State Department emphasizing “We’ve been pretty clear from the podium and elsewhere saying there’s no zone, no safe haven-we’re not talking about that here”. The PKK, a Kurdish terror group, killed two Turkish police officers and the Turks have retaliated, bombing their positions.

“Turkey and the United States will coordinate operations”. Other Kurdish fighters have been effective against the Islamic State.

Proximity to Islamic State-controlled territory puts less stress on the aircraft and gives pilots more time to stay over a target area, the official said.