Ankara Grants US Military Go-Ahead for Strikes Against ISIL From Turkey

Sputnik News

21:20 23.07.2015(updated 21:30 23.07.2015)

In the fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist group, the Turkish government has reportedly given the US permission to conduct air strikes from its soil, according to the Wall Street Journal and Turkish media.

According to Turkish media reports, an agreement between US President Barack Obama and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was finalized Wednesday night, after the two leaders spoke by phone.

The deal would purportedly involve the US utilization of Incirlik Air Base in eastern Turkey. The deal would allow for both manned and unmanned aircraft to conduct strikes against the terrorist group in Syria.

The White House has neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

The Turkish government has repeatedly said it has no interest in launching offensives into Syria, but a recent wave of violence along the border may have changed that policy. On Monday, a suspected IS suicide bomber killed 32 students in a town along the border. On Thursday, border clashes with IS fighters left one Turkish officer dead.

'They're in a counter-ISIL fight right across the border,' a defense official, speaking anonymously, told the Wall Street Journal.

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