Who will Turkey 'train and equip' in Syria?
Turkey reportedly to train mostly Turkmen force, primarily to oppose Bashar al-Assad, not Islamic State; Al-Monitor Syria Pulse correspondents report on fighting in Aleppo and Daraa; Why did Assad dismiss his top security official?
Turkey holds out on US appeals to fight IS
US officials now devote a fair bit of energy to keeping up appearances that Turkey is a partner in the US coalition against the Islamic State (IS).
The visit to Turkey last week of retired Marine Gen. John Allen, the US special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter IS, and Brett McGurk, deputy assistant secretary of state, as reported here, is a case in point. Turkey made no concession to allow reinforcement of Syrian Kurdish rebels battling IS forces in Kobani. US officials had to backtrack, with some awkwardness, on whether Turkey had agreed to the use of the Incirlik air base by the United States for attacks against IS forces; Ankara had not granted permission, at least not yet.
The United States therefore made much ado about Turkey’s willingness to “train and equip” Syrian rebel forces, although this too may be less than meets the eye, if the US purpose was to obtain a Turkish assist in the battle against IS.
