WASHINGTON // Turkey said it will open its military bases to coalition troops and help train moderate Syrian rebels, as Pentagon leaders prepare to host defence ministers from 20 countries this week to plot strategy against ISIL forces.
After weeks of hesitation, Turkey agreed to let the US and its allies train moderate Syrian rebels on its soil and make use of its bases, US national security adviser Susan Rice said on Sunday.
The agreement is a significant expansion of Turkish cooperation in the fight against ISIL, which has taken over large parts of Syria and Iraq and is gaining territory along the Turkish border.
While Turkey has previously pledged to join the campaign, it had not said what it would be willing to contribute. The Nato member had ruled out sending ground troops into Syria unless the US broadened the campaign to target the regime of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad.
Turkey is now willing to join Saudi Arabia in offering territory to be used to train moderate Syrian rebels who could fight ISIL on the ground in Syria, Ms Rice said.
The move to help train moderate Syrian opposition forces bolsters Turkey’s twin objectives of weakening ISIL while trying to oust the Assad regime.
The Obama administration, while saying Mr Al Assad must go, has stopped short of taking any military action against the Syrian regime and has limited its air strikes to ISIL targets.
The US has ruled out sending its own ground troops into Syria and Iraq.
Ms Rice also said Turkish bases could be used by “the coalition forces – American and otherwise – to engage in activities inside of Iraq and Syria”.
Such a move would give US aircraft close access to targets in Syria, such as the Kurdish town of Kobani, where the militant group is making gains.
The US has an airbase near Turkey’s Incirlik.
“That’s a new commitment and one that we very much welcome,” Ms Rice said.
The Pentagon, taking into consideration political sensitivities of Arab allies, has not disclosed which airbases it uses in the region to conduct strikes in Syria and Iraq.
Defence secretary Chuck Hagel said US military officials will be in Turkey this week to review the plan for training and equipping Syrian rebels.
The officials will be “working with the Turkish general’s staff and appropriate leaders, going through the specifics of Turkey’s commitments to help the coalition specifically train and equip”, Mr Hagel said.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will host more than 20 defence ministers from coalition countries on Tuesday to discuss the campaign against ISIL.
Gen Dempsey said the US had to call in Apache attack helicopters to secure the airport in Baghdad and prevent Iraqi forces from being overrun.
“Had they overrun the Iraqi unit, it was a straight shot to the airport,” Gen Dempsey said. “We’re not going to allow that to happen. We need that airport.”
The Iraqi cities of Mosul and Fallujah, which are now controlled by ISIL militants, have become the site of “crucifixions and beheadings of a nature that the world hasn’t seen in hundreds of years”, Gen Dempsey said.
“Mosul will likely be the decisive battle in the ground campaign at some point in the future” when Iraqi troops are strong enough to go back on the offensive and retake territory, he said. “My instinct at this point is that that will require a different kind of advising and assisting, because of the complexity of the fight.”
* Bloomberg
