ISLAMIC STATE

Six U.S. F-16 fighter jets have arrived at Turkey’s Incirlik air base to carry out airstrikes against Islamic State.

Six U.S. F-16 fighter jets have arrived at Turkey’s Incirlik air base to carry out airstrikes against Islamic State. The agreement to host the deployment ended months of reluctance by Ankara to become embroiled in the conflict.

The European Command Wing of the US military said that a ‘small detachment’ of F-16s, plus support equipment and some 300 people were being deployed to Incirlik. The warplanes are being sent from the 31st Fighter Wing, based at Aviano in Italy.

The permission from Turkey to fly manned raids from the base is expected to offer greater flexibility in operations against IS, particularly against targets in Syria. Sorties have previously been flown out of the Persian Gulf.

Turkey has struggled with increasing insecurity along its 900-kilometre (560-mile) border with Syria, amid fears that the conflict there could spill over onto its own territory. However, Ankara appeared reluctant to become engaged in the fight against IS.

That reluctance changed after a suicide bombing last month on Turkey’s side of the border, which killed 32 people in the town of Suruc.

Turkey subsequently carried out its own airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, waging an apparent two-pronged attack against IS and the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK).

In reality, most of Turkey’s raids have been aimed at the PKK, creating something of a dilemna for the US which is working with the Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units (YPG), who are fighting IS. Reports suggest that nearly 400 members of the PKK have been killed in two weeks of Turkish airstrikes on their positions in northern Iraq. There are fears that the conflict could spill onto Turkish soil and worsen relations (still further) with its Kurdish minority.

Six U.S. F-16 fighter jets have been deployed to Turkey’s Incirlik air base.