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Turkey strikes Islamic State, Kurdish militants in drive for ‘safe zone’

Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (C) chairs a security meeting in Ankara, Turkey, in this July 25, 2015 handout provided by Turkey’s Prime Minister’s Press Office. Turkish fighter jets and ground forces hit Islamic State militants in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in Iraq on Saturday, in a campaign Ankara said would help create a "safe zone" across swathes of northern Syria. The strikes followed Turkey’s first-ever air attacks on Islamic State in Syria a day earlier and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference the heightened security operations will go on. "These operations are not ‘one-point operations’ and will continue as long as there is a threat against Turkey," he said. Turkey has dramatically cranked up its role in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, which has seized much of Syria’s north and east, since a suspected IS suicide bomber killed 32 people this week […]

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Iraqi Forces Retake Anbar University

BAGHDAD—Iraqi government forces recaptured Anbar University from Islamic State militant group Sunday after hours of fierce clashes, provincial officials said, as part of its push to reclaim territory across the embattled province. The university, located 3 miles south of Anbar’s provincial capital, the militant-held city of Ramadi, was under the full control of government forces, which had entered the complex early Sunday amid intense combat with the militant group. Athal al-Fahdawi, a provincial councilman, said a number of buildings in and around the university complex have been badly damaged or destroyed, but that the militants retreated. Another Anbar councilman, Faleh al-Issawi, told The Associated Press that about two dozen Islamic State fighters were killed in the clashes. He declined to provide more details. The Iraqi military launched a large-scale operation this month to retake Anbar province, in which most of the biggest cities are held by the Islamic State […]

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U.S.-Turkey Deal Paves Way to Set Up Buffer Zone in Northern Syria

The deal allowing U.S. planes to use Turkish bases to strike Islamic State militants is paving the way for establishment of a de facto no-fly zone in northern Syria, Turkish and American officials said. The broad sketches of the understanding include eventually relying on moderate Syrian rebels to help take control of a buffer zone along the Turkish border, according to a Turkish official who spoke on Sunday. Turkey has pledged to use its F-16 fighter jets to help clear the extremist group’s forces from a safe zone about 55 miles wide and 25 miles deep, the Turkish official added. If rebels can take control, the area would be protected by coalition airstrikes so Syrian refugees, including some of the nearly two million living in Turkey, can return to their country, the Turkish official said. The evolving plans open a risky new front for the U.S. in its fight […]

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Syria’s Assad Admits War Is Taking Toll on Government Forces

President Bashar al-Assad acknowledged in an unusually frank public admission on Sunday that the Syrian military is unable to hold on to some parts of the country because his forces have been depleted by desertions and defections. Mr. Assad attributed the regime’s recent battlefield setbacks to this shortage of manpower and the need to defend areas deemed more strategic and vital than others. “The idea that we were going to win all battles everywhere at the same time is unrealistic, impossible and not doable,” said Mr. Assad in a televised speech delivered at the presidential palace in Damascus to members of trade and professional unions. “This is why priorities were set.” He said the decision on where to mobilize forces was based on the military, political, economic and strategic importance of the area, among other factors. “When we want to concentrate our forces in an important area, what happens […]

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Strikes on Kurd Militias Elevate Tensions in Turkey

Photo Sympathizers with the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party tried to protect themselves as Turkish riot police officers fired a water cannon at an antigovernment demonstration Sunday in Istanbul. Credit Bulent Kilic/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images ISTANBUL — As Turkish fighter jets pounded Kurdish militia targets in northern Iraq late Friday, the implications of the attack weighed heavily on Turks and Kurds across the border in Turkey , as they faced the prospect of being drawn back into a bloody civil conflict after years of relative peace. In 2013, Turkey brokered a historic settlement with the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., vowing to grant the long-suppressed Kurdish minority greater rights and autonomy in exchange for a cease-fire after a three-decade insurgency that had claimed more than 40,000 lives. The cease-fire brought calm and stability to Turkey’s volatile, predominately Kurdish southeast region. But the peace process sputtered last month, prompting […]

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Turkey and U.S. Agree on Plan to Clear ISIS From Strip of Syria’s North

Photo The Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey. Turkey and the United States agreed on a plan that would create what officials are calling an Islamic State-free zone, which the Turks say could also be a “safe zone” for displaced Syrians. Credit Murad Sezer/Reuters BAGHDAD — Turkey and the United States have agreed in general terms on a plan that envisions American warplanes, Syrian insurgents and Turkish forces working together to sweep Islamic State militants from a 60-mile-long strip of northern Syria along the Turkish border, American and Turkish officials say. The plan would create what officials from both countries are calling an Islamic State-free zone, which the Turks say could also be a “safe zone” for displaced Syrians. While many details have yet to be determined, including how deep the strip would extend into Syria, the plan would significantly intensify American and Turkish military action against Islamic State […]

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U.S.-Turkey deal aims to create de facto ‘safe zone’ in northwest Syria

Turkey and the United States have agreed on the outlines of a de facto “safe zone” along the Turkey-Syria border under the terms of a deal that is expected to significantly increase the scope and pace of the U.S.-led air war against the Islamic State in northern Syria, according to U.S. and Turkish officials. The agreement includes a plan to drive the Islamic State out of a 68-mile-long area west of the Euphrates River and reaching into the province of Aleppo that would then come under the control of the Syrian opposition. If fully implemented, it would also bring American planes in regular, close proximity to bases, aircraft and air defenses operated by the Syrian government, and directly benefit opposition rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Operations in the targeted area would stop short of meeting long-standing Turkish demands for a full-scale, declared no-fly zone, but the area could […]

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Turkey arrests dozens more in sweep against Islamic State, Kurdish militants

Turkish police detained dozens more suspected Islamic State and Kurdish militants in early morning raids on Monday, local media said, amid a crackdown on the armed groups and air strikes in Syria and Iraq. Long a reluctant member of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, Turkey last week made a dramatic turnaround by granting the alliance access to its air bases and bombarding targets in Syria linked to the jihadist movement as well as detaining suspected members in Turkish cities. Turkish jets also attacked Kurdish insurgent camps in Iraq for a second night on Sunday, in a campaign that could end Ankara’s peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Broadcaster CNN Turk said more than 800 suspected Islamic State and PKK members had been arrested in the past week in a domestic crackdown carried out alongside the air strikes. Some 500 police swept through the Haci Bayram district […]

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Assad, in Rare Admission, Says Syria’s Army Lacks Manpower

Photo In a speech on Sunday, President Bashar al-Assad said that the army had ceded some areas to insurgents to hold onto others. Credit SANA, via European Pressphoto Agency BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a striking admission, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria said on Sunday that the country’s army faced a manpower shortage and had ceded some areas to insurgents in order to hold onto other regions deemed more important. Mr. Assad also acknowledged in a speech televised from Damascus, the Syrian capital, that many Syrians could not watch the address because of the lack of electricity in many areas and noted the economic hardships that people are facing after more than four years of an increasingly complex civil war. What was unusual was not the fact of the struggles that Mr. Assad mentioned, which have been obvious for some time, but his mentioning them at all. It was his […]

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Foreign insurers taking cautious look at Iran after nuclear deal

A staff removes the Iranian flag from the stage after a group picture with foreign ministers and representatives of Unites States, Iran, China, Russia, Britain, Germany, France and the European Union during the Iran nuclear talks at the Vienna International Center in Vienna,… Western and Middle East insurance specialists see Iran as an appealing $8 billion (£5 billion) market in the wake of its nuclear deal with world powers, though uncertainty over when sanctions on Tehran will be lifted means they are treating the country with caution. Eight out of 11 insurance and reinsurance specialists who responded to questions emailed by Reuters this week said Iran was an attractive or very attractive market, especially in the marine and energy sectors. Responses were on an anonymous basis due to the sensitivity of the issue. While several said they expected to have entered the Iranian market by the end of 2016, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple