ANKARA: In a major tactical shift, Turkish warplanes hit positions of fighters of the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group across the border in Syria on Friday, a day after IS militants fired at a Turkish military outpost.

A Syrian rights group said the air strikes killed nine IS fighters.

Turkey, which straddles Europe and Asia and borders the Middle East, had long been reluctant to join the US-led coalition against the extremist group.

In a related, long-awaited development, Turkey said it had agreed to allow US-led coalition forces to base manned and unmanned aircraft at its airbases for operations targeting the IS group.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said Turkey’s military would also take part in the operations.

The ministry would not provide details on the agreement, citing operational reasons, but said it expected Turkey’s cooperation to “make a difference” to the campaign.

The statement did not say which bases would be used, but Turkish media reports said they would include Incirlik, Diyarbakir and Batman, all in southern Turkey near the border with Syria.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed earlier that Turkey had agreed to let the US use Incirlik air base for operations “within a certain framework”. A US official said the agreement was reached during a phone call this week with President Barack Obama.

Turkey allows anti-IS coalition to use its bases

In June 2014, the IS group launched a blitz, capturing large parts of Iraq and of Syria — which has been ravaged by a four-year-old civil war. The US-led coalition has been striking the group in both Syria and Iraq.

Turkish police also launched a major operation on Friday against extremist groups including the IS, detaining more than 290 people in simultaneous raids in Istanbul and 12 provinces.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the air strikes on Friday had “removed potential threats” to Turkey, hitting their targets with “100 per cent accuracy”.

He did not rule out further air strikes, saying Turkey was determined to stave off all terror threats. “This was not a point operation, this is a process,” he said.

“It is not limited to one day or to one region ... the slightest movement threatening Turkey will be retaliated against in the strongest way possible.”

A government official said three F-16 jets took off from Diyarbakir air base in southeast Turkey early on Friday and used smart bombs to hit three IS targets.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the three Turkish air strikes were all near the border, hitting north of the village of Hawar al-Nahr, east of the Rai area and west of the town of Jarablous.

He said the air strikes killed nine IS fighters, wounded 12 others and destroyed at least one IS vehicle and a heavy machinegun.

The private Dogan news agency said as many as 35 IS militants were killed in the air strikes, but did not cite a source.

The Observatory also reported that an air strike targeted a post near the border with Turkey for Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front. It said it was not clear if Turkish warplanes or those of the US-led coalition struck the Nusra Front position.

Mr Davutoglu said Turkish planes did not violate Syrian airspace on Friday, but he did not rule out incursions in the future. He denied news reports claiming that Turkey had told the Syrian regime about the air strikes, but said it had contacted Nato allies before the operation.

The agreement on the Turkish airbases follows months of US appeals to Turkey and delicate negotiations. Mr Davutoglu said on Friday that an agreement that takes Turkey’s concerns into account had been reached, but did not elaborate.

Turkey’s moves came as the country finds itself drawn further into the conflict in neighbouring Syria by a series of deadly attacks and signs of increased IS activity inside Turkey itself.

A government statement said the air strikes were approved on Thursday after IS militants fired from Syrian territory at the Turkish military outpost, killing one soldier.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2015

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