Turkey becomes full member of the US-led anti-ISIL coalition

Ankara carried out three air strikes on militant targets in Syria on Friday, killing at least nine of the extremists.

Turkish soldiers patrol near the border with Syria, outside the village of Elbeyli in southeastern Turkey, on July 24, 2015. AP Photo

LONDON // Turkey became a full member of the US-led anti-ISIL coalition on Friday after carrying out three air strikes on militant targets in Syria and giving consent to the US to use its airbases to launch attacks on the extremist group.

The air strikes killed nine ISIL fighters and wounded 12 others, said Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. At least one ISIL vehicle and a heavy machine gun were also destroyed, he said.

Turkey’s private Dogan news agency said that as many as 35 ISIL militants were killed in the air strikes, but did not cite a source.

Mr Abdul Rahman said that the strikes were carried out near to the Turkish border and struck north of the village of Hawar Al Nahr, east of the Rai area and west of the town of Jarablous.

Didier Billion from the Institute for International and Strategic Affairs in Paris said the air strikes “mean that Turkey is really joining” a coalition, of which it had only been a nominal member until now.

“Turkey has understood for months that this kind of complacency towards IS was becoming more and more dangerous, that it could blow back,” he said.

Turkey had long been reluctant to join the US-led coalition against the extremist group.

But in a 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 ISIL. The foreign ministry said that Turkey’s military would also take part in the operations.

The foreign ministry did not say which bases would be used, but Turkish media reports said they would include Incirlik, Diyarbakir and Batman. All three bases are located in southern Turkey, near to the border with Syria.

Earlier on Thursday, president Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that Turkey had agreed to let the United States use Incirlik airbase for operations “within a certain framework”. He did not elaborate on that agreement, which a US official said was reached during a phone call this week with president Barack Obama.

Turkish police also launched a major operation on Friday against extremist groups including ISIL. They detained more than 290 people in simultaneous raids in Istanbul and 12 provinces.

Prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Friday’s air strikes had “removed potential threats” to Turkey, hitting their targets with “100 per cent accuracy”. He did not rule out further air strikes, saying that Turkey was determined to stave off all terror threats.

A government official said that three F-16 jets took off from Diyarbakir airbase in south-east Turkey early on Friday and used smart bombs to hit three ISIL targets. The official said that the targets were two command centres and a gathering point for ISIL supporters.

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

Mr Davutoglu said that 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.

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 ISIL activity inside Turkey itself.

The government said that Friday’s air strikes were approved on Thursday after ISIL militants fired from Syrian territory at the Turkish military outpost, prompting Turkish retaliation that killed at least one ISIL militant.

On Monday, a suicide bombing blamed on ISIL militants killed 32 people in Suruc, a Kurdish-majority town near the Syrian border. The bombing ignited protests from Turkey’s Kurds, who said that the government had not done enough to prevent attacks from ISIL.

Turkish officials say the Suruc bombing could be retaliation for Ankara’s crackdown on ISIL operations. In the last six months more than 500 people suspected of working with ISIL in Turkey have been detained, officials say.

* Associated Press with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse