Ankara, Turkey – After much debate and speculation, the government of Turkey has granted access to the U.S. Air Force to the Incirlik Airbase in order to continue their war against the self-proclaimed “Islamic State.”
However Turkish media rumours have stated that the deal goes much further, incorporating not only unrestricted access to the U.S., but also, the Anti-Coalition aircraft to the Batman and Arhac bases.
The usage of these bases will make certain of quick and accurate strikes on IS positions, especially in Raqqah or northern Aleppo.
Following this development reports began circulating that Erdogan and Obama reached an agreement to block the access to the Turkish-Syrian border, including setting up a security wall.
Further details began surfacing that the wall would be 151 km long, with a 450 km-long ditch with zeppelins, censors, and thermal cameras at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion.
Within moments of these announcements – in conjunction with the Turkish Army’s 5th Armored Division attacking the terrorist group – the IS militants started firing towards the Turkish border from within Syria’s town of Kobanbey.
The initial surprise of the attack led to 1 Turkish officer killed-in-action and over 5 wounded.
The battle lasted well over 4 hours and was only stopped by continuous tank/artillery strikes in cities such as Mollah Yakup and Ayyase.
The attack lead to the opposition party in Turkey (CHP) calling an emergency parliamentary meeting about the security situation involving both IS but also Kurdish PKK forces and the reconciliation between them.
PKK forces which had conducted several assassinations on police and civilian targets throughout the week where still priority in discussions.
Prime Minister Davutoğlu was among the most vocal opponents of any reconciliation.
The buffer-zone project is still on the table, with conflicting reports on it’s implementation.
U.S. General Allen announced that an Air Exclusion Zone against the Syrian Air Force was scraped, some reports indicating that the promise the Kurds in Syria/Iraq would be kept contained.
However, Turkish media still reports that the buffer project is still a possibility.
Further reports, indicate that if a buffer-zone is created; it would be significantly smaller than hoped and the target would not only be IS, but also, Jabhat Al-Nusra, Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, Kurdish YPG and the Syrian Air Force, which would completely contradict claims that a no-fly zone was off the possibility listing.
With these prospects, Islamic State’s Caliph Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi has extended a proposal to Jabhat Al-Nusra’s leading Emir “Abu Mohammad Al-Jolani” to set aside differences and begin activating car bombs/armed struggle inside Turkey.
With these extremely aquacious developments U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, will be in Ankara on July 31 to meet with senior government officials.
Islamic State reinforcements have actually begun appearing in convoys crossing from Raqqah to Al-Baab and the surrounding the Turkish-IS border.
But more importantly, any proposed Turkish intervention would include the taking of Dabiq.
Dabiq is one of two towns that – according to Islamic eschatology (easily adapted to modern-day Turkey) – would begin the end of times.
Be Civil
This is a Civilized Place for Public Discussion
Please treat this discussion with the same respect you would a public park. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation.
These are not hard and fast rules, merely guidelines to aid the human judgment of our community and keep this a clean and well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.
Make it better
Improve the Discussion
Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.
The topics discussed here matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.
Now the hard part!
Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree
You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:
Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.