Ankara: Turkish warplanes pounded Daesh targets in Syria for the first time on Friday, with President Tayyip Erdogan promising more decisive action against both the jihadists and Kurdish militants at home.
The air strikes, which followed a phone conversation between Erdogan and US President Barack Obama on Wednesday, were accompanied by a series of police raids across Turkey to detain hundreds of suspected militants, including from Kurdish groups.
Turkey has long been a reluctant partner in the US-led coalition against Daesh, emphasising instead the need to oust Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and saying Syrian Kurdish forces also pose a grave security threat.
But Friday’s attacks, which officials said were launched from Turkish airspace, signalled that Ankara would crack down against Daesh across the Syrian border, while pursuing the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) - which Ankara describes as a separatist organisation - at home.
Turkish Air Force's F-16s
“In our phone call with Obama, we reiterated our determination in the struggle against the separatist organisation and the Daesh,” Erdogan told reporters.
“We took the first step last night.” Ankara acted hours after officials in Washington said it had agreed to let US jets launch air strikes from a base near the Syrian border, dropping an earlier refusal to allow manned American bombing raids.
“We can’t say this is the beginning of a military campaign, but certainly the policy will be more involved, active and more engaged,” a Turkish government official said. “But action won’t likely be taken unprompted.”
Police also rounded up nearly 300 people in Friday’s raids against suspected Daesh and Kurdish militants, Prime Minister Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said after vowing to fight all “terrorist groups” equally.
Meanwhile, five members of Daesh were killed during an exchange of fire with Turkish soldiers on Thursday, sources at Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s office said on Friday.
