CFR Daily News Brief: Turkey Ramps Up Targeting of Islamic State in Syria

July 24, 2015 Daily News Brief

TOP OF THE AGENDA Turkey Ramps Up Targeting of Islamic State in Syria Turkish military jets carried out air strikes (Reuters) on positions of militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Syria on Friday. Despite previous reluctance, Turkey also agreed to allow the United States, and anti-Islamic State coalition partners, to use (WaPo) the strategic Incirlik air base in southern Turkey to launch aerial strikes on the Islamic State. Turkish authorities also conducted (Hurriyet) sweeping raids, detaining more than 250 suspected Islamic State militants following reports of clashes (BBC) between Turkish forces and Islamic State militants that killed a Turkish soldier on Thursday. These developments come after an Islamic State suicide bomb blast killed more than thirty people in Suruc earlier this week.

ANALYSIS "Turkey's change of mind will have a major impact on the intensity of the air campaign against IS. Incirlik is only a few minutes’ flying time from Syria, compared with the long haul to IS strongholds from bases in Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait and the Gulf. That means the sortie rate can rise: pilot fatigue will be lower, and fewer missions will require aerial refuelling. Its also means that strikes called in by surveillance drones will leave mobile targets much less time to disperse or hide. However, American claims that the decision is a 'game-changer' may prove optimistic," writes the Economist. “At a moment when Turkish political parties are trying to form a government and are therefore passing through a sensitive period, this attack is believed to fuel already strained tension between the government and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). ISIL’s strategic decision to hit socialists, activists, and pro-Kurdish party sympathizers is a move targeting Turkey’s soft belly," writes Serkan Demirtas in Hurriyet Daily. "The message of IS to Turkey, its secondary intended recipient after the PYD and the PKK, is, in short: 'If you step up attacks against us, you will pay the price.' Turkey had indeed stepped up operations against IS inside Turkey over the last six months; that resulted in detentions of 450 people in several major cities. Border controls between Syria and Turkey were reinforced, resulting in the capture of about 300 IS militants who wanted to cross the border in both directions," writes Metin Gurcan in Al-Monitor.