Turkey denies deal with U.S. and coalition forces in fight against Isis

 Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah


Oct 13, 2014

Turkey denied Monday that it has reached any “new agreement” with the United States to allow the use of Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey for attacks on the Islamic State militant group.

The Turkish prime minister’s office said an agreement had been reached to train several thousand Syrian moderate rebels, may not be enough to stop the massacre of civilians in Syria’s border town of Kobani, where intense fighting continues.

On Sunday, the US said Turkey had agreed to let US and coalition forces use its military bases, including the key Incirlik airbase close to the southern city of Adana, 100 miles from the Syrian border.But Turkish officials insisted that no decision had been taken on Incirlik

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the Incirlik air base was already being used for reconnaissance purposes in Iraq but suggested its use for wider operations would depend on whether Turkey's demands for a no-fly zone and a safe zone in Syria are met.

President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, made clear the U.S. has not asked "the Turks to send ground forces of their own into Syria."

The Obama administration had been pressing Ankara to play a larger role against ISIL, which has taken control of large swaths of Syria and Iraq, including territory on Turkey's border, and sent refugees fleeing into Turkey.

Turkey has allowed the United States for some time to use Incirlik, located less than 100 miles from the Syrian border, to help with deliveries of humanitarian aid to needy civilians inside Syria.

Ankara and other American allies are pressing the U.S. to create a no-fly zone inside Syrian territory, and seeking creation of a secure buffer on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey.

US central command said warplanes from the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates launched airstrikes on four locations in Syria on Saturday and Sunday, including three in Kobani that destroyed an Isis fighting position and staging area.

Sources

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/13/us-says-turkey-oksbasesagainstisil.html

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/turkey-denies-deal-u-s-using-air-bases-against-isis-n224741

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/13/turkey-denies-agreement-open-air-bases-us-isis


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

French fighter jets launch first air strikes on IS in Iraq

Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah Sep19, 2014 France carried out its first airstrikes in Iraq on Friday, hitting a logistics depot held by the Islamic State extremist group, French President Francois Hollande announced. A statement from Hollande's office read: "This morning, at 9.40am, our Rafale aircraft carried out a first attack against a logistics center of the terrorist organization Daesh [Isis] in the north-east of Iraq. The target was hit and entirely destroyed. Other operations will be carried out in the days to come." The target was near Tall Mouss in the Zoumar sector of northern Iraq. The French aircraft are based at Al-Dhafra, near Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The strikes came after a night of violence in the Iraqi capital. The Islamic State again demonstrated its capability to target mostly Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad. Suicide bombers and mortar fire struck the Shiite district of Kadhimiyah overnight, officials said. Later, at least 17 people w...
Read more

U.S. planes strikes help Iraqi forces break Islamic State’s siege

Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah 1 Sep 2014 Iraqi forces, backed by U.S. air strikes, on Sunday broke a two-month siege by Islamic State (IS) militants of the northern town of Amerli, near the Iranian border, populated mostly by Shi’ite Turkmen Opening up a humanitarian corridor to thousands of Shiite Turkmen who had been trapped by Sunni militants and deprived of food, water, and medicine. US aircraft delivered over a hundred bundles of emergency supplies and more aid was dropped from British, French and Australian planes, officials said on Saturday. Iraqi army and Kurdish forces closed in on Islamic State fighters on Saturday in a push to break the Sunni fighters' siege of Amerli, which has been surrounded by the fighters for more than two months. The militants from the Islamic State were able to storm into Iraq in recent months in part because Sunnis felt so disenfranchised by the Shiite-led government of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The strikes destroyed an Islami...
Read more

Iraq Kurdish forces retake key Mosul Dam as US airstrikes continue

 Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah Aug 17, 2014 Kurdish Iraqi fighters were reported to have taken back much of a strategic dam in northern Iraq on Sunday a U.S. military launched new airstrikes to help Iraqi forces to  retake it. Kurdish officials say that peshmerga forces backed by Iraqi and U.S.  airstrikes involving manned and unmanned jet fighters are continuing around the dam. Iraqi ground forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are involved in an "extensive" ground operation to retake the Mosul dam.  The White House said on Sunday that President Barack Obama authorized U.S. air strikes in Iraq to help retake control of the Mosul Dam.       “The failure of the Mosul Dam could threaten the lives of large numbers of civilians, threaten U.S. personnel and facilities - including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad - and prevent the Iraqi government from providing critical services to the Iraqi populace,” the White House said in a statement. ...
Read more