Turkey allows US access to its airbases "to fight IS" [to kill President al-Assad]
Turkey has granted the United States access to its airbases near the Syrian border "to conduct bombings on Islamic State militants". This follows international pressure on Ankara to do more to help the Kurds in Kobani. ● US troops have long operated out of Incirlik Air Base, with roughly 1,500 air force personnel stationed there. The US airstrikes against "IS" are currently reportedly flying out of air bases in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. NATO member Turkey had so far refused to get involved in the fighting, calling instead for a joint strategy against the militants. At a donors' conference for the Gaza Strip on Sunday evening, US Secretary of State John Kerry stressed the seriousness of the situation in the border town of Kobani.
PressTV: Iran: US efforts against ISIL not real
McClatchy: Kurds hanging on in Kobani as Islamic State presses offensive
Rûdaw: German deputy speaker: NATO must stop Turkey support for ISIS || Claudia Roth said in an interview with Rudaw that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is pursuing a “murky” policy in Syria because it wants the Kurds weakened and their fighters “annihilated.” Erdogan’s “dealings with the ISIS are unacceptable. I could not believe that Turkey harbors an ISIS militant camp in Istanbul,” Roth said. “Turkey has also allowed weapons to be transported into Syria through its borders. Also that the ISIS has been able to sell its oil via Turkey is extraordinary,” she [said].