Even though President Trump has been very clear about ISIS having been
defeated, a US-led anti-ISIS coalition continues to carry out
overflights over Syria, and on Monday had rare company in the form of a pair of Turkish F-16 jets.
Turkey is one of 68 nations in the coalition, but has rarely
participated so directly in the overflights, generally focusing its
support on providing access to Turkish air fields to launch operations
from.
Turkey’s presence in the flight is, according to officials, a show of
support for the US-led operations, at a key time when US and Turkey
officials are disagreeing over the rate of establishing a “safe zone” in
the far north of Syria.
Turkish officials say that the F-16s were present for two hours on
Monday, and declined to say what, if anything, they did beyond flying
with the rest of the fleet. There were no reports of airstrikes.
Turkish Warplanes Participate in Anti-ISIS Flights Over Syria
Rare involvement seen as show of support for US operation
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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