Two US military officials have said that Turkey has declined US air support for its troops fighting Syria against ISIS, and instead has asked Russia to assume the role instead.
For the last few days, Turkey has been accepting air support from Russia, the NBC News reported on Wednesday.
This is while, the Turks have turned down the US-led coalition’s help, the officials claimed.
In December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that the US had failed to keep its promise of air support in Ankara’s operations in the Arab country, mainly in the city of al-Bab, which has proven a tough battle for the Turks, PressTV reported.
“Even though the US-led coalition has failed to keep its promises [pledging air support] in our operation to liberate al-Bab, we will rid the city of Daesh terrorists, no matter what,” Erdogan said back then.
The complaints continued on Wednesday, with Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik saying that he lack of US air support was fueling negative public sentiments over Washington’s use of Turkey’s Incirlik airbase, the PressTV report continued.
According to NBC, when one of the military officials was asked whether Russia was pounding ISIS in the city, he said “for now they are.”
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