Turkish forces kill 48 Islamic State fighters in Syrian town of al-Bab

More than four months ago, Turkish air and ground forces launched Operation Euphrates on behalf of Syrian rebels to drive Islamic State(IS) or ISIS forces from the Turkish border.

In a statement on Monday, Turkey's armed forces announced that they had killed 48 militants on Sunday. Turkish warplanes claimed to have destroyed 25 buildings and shelters used by IS. During recent weeks, the Turks have been besieging the strategic town of al-Bab. Al-Bab is the last major town held by IS in Aleppo province. Several times a week Turkey has been issuing reports claiming that dozens of IS fighters had been killed. The reports leave open the question as to exactly how many IS fighters remain in the town of about 60,000. The reports do not usually mention civilian casualties and rarely report their own casualties or those of rebels. However, on the enclosed video the Turks do report on civilian casualties.

Turkey has been asking for increased U.S. air support to help it out. The Pentagon wants to avoid increasing tensions with Turkey as it is quite dependent on the Incirlik air base for its operations in Syria. The Pentagon began air flights over the city but so far has not launched any air attacks. Already Russian airstrikes have supported the offensive in the surrounding area. The U.S. is now carrying out what it calls "aerial intelligence surveillance" in the area to help the Turkish forces. Earlier, the U.S. sent one plane over the city and called it a "show of force". The low level of support given by the U.S. compared to Russia is a sore spot for Turkey.

The Turks with their rebel allies have now taken most of the territory west of the Euphrates formerly held by the Islamic State. The territory has been handed over to a coalition of rebel forces. The U.S. is worried that the Turks will confront Kurdish YPG forces that the U.S. supports. Turkish officials say they will move on to take Manbij, a city along the Euphrates under control of the YPG.

In spite of the fact that the U.S. is now mounting a number of aerial surveillance flights, officials are said to worry about ensuring that they do not clash with Turkish or Russian flights. A defense official said: “Flying anywhere in Syria is complicated. Flying up in that area where everyone seems to be flying would require some work. I wouldn’t say we aren’t worried about it.”

The U.S. is considering sending direct weapons shipments to Kurdish YPG forces advancing on Raqqa, the IS de facto capital. The Turks consider the group a terrorist organization and are opposed to any such move. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that ceasing to cooperate with the YPG was one of two main expectations Turkey had of the United States. The other was that the U.S. would extradite Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the US, to Turkey where he would face charges that the orchestrated the recent coup attempt.

The Turkish President Recep Erdogan said that he thought that U.S.-Turkish relations would gain momentum once Trump was inaugurated on January 20. Trump's designated national security adviser Michael Flynn wrote an op-ed that the U.S. should agree to extradite Gulen and stop criticism of Turkey whom he considered a key ally. As Turkey's relations with Russia improve, under Trump Turkish relations with the United States may also show some improvement.

Turkey demands US air support for offensive in Syrai

The Turks allow the U.S. to launch operations against the Islamic State from an airbase in Incirlik but in return they have of late expected that the U.S. would provide air support for the Turkish military operations inside of Syria.

The Turks have even threatened to close down the base. Turkish forces are struggling to wrest the town of Al-Bab from the control of the Islamic State (IS). In response to the request, the U.S. made overflights of the town as a show of force. However, they did not make any attacks on IS. The Russians have already given the Turks air support by attacking targets outside of Al-Bab.

Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said that the lack of U.S. support was resulting in serious disappointment among the Turkish public. The Turkish Anadolu news agency also reported that it was leading to questions over U.S. use of Incrilik. Isik called on the U.S. to provide the needed air support for the al-Bab operation. The U.S. is already providing air support for Kurdish operations in Syria support that Turkey disapproves.

U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian said that any move by Turkey to limit or even shut down the Incirlik operations would be disastrous for the US war against the Islamic State. The U.S. is mainly depending on a drive by Syrian Kurdish and Arab forces who are moving against the main city and self-proclaimed Islamic State capital of Raqqa. Dorian said: "It's absolutely invaluable. Really, the entire world has been made safer by the operations that have been conducted there." Turkey had briefly closed airspace over Incirlik during the recent failed military coup and had cut off power to the base. In the July coup attempt, Turkish pilots who supported the coup took off from Incirlik and bombed Ankara including the parliament building. Some Turkish officials were suspicious that the the U.S. may have supported Turkish military rebels. One high-ranking Turkish officer attempted to turn himself in to the US military but the U.S. allowed Turkish authorities to arrest him. Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister said: "The U.S. is a very important ally for us. We have cooperation in every field, but there is the reality of a confidence crisis in the relationship at the moment" — over Incirlik and the al-Bab offensive, which Turkey has named Operation Euphrates Shield.

Captain Dorian said that weather and poor intelligence about the location of friendly forces may have been factors in the decision of the U.S. planes not to attack. He said that there were discussions at higher levels to increase the support given by the U.S. Dorian said: "I don't have the details to offer you about what the way forward will be in al-Bab. But I do know there has been some good discussion on that, and Turkey is aware of that discussion."

The Incirlik base was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beginning way back in 1951 and an agreement for joint use was signed in 1954. It has been used as a deterrent to the then U.S.S.R. and for U.S. staging operations in the mid-east. There are still about 5,000 US service personnel at the base although military families have been sent home along with non-essential personnel due to unrest in Turkey.

Relations with the U.S. have been strained as Erdogan forges a new alliance with Russia. Erdogan is also angry that the U.S. refuses to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric residing in the U.S., whom Erdogan blames for starting the failed July coup. Erdogan is also annoyed at the U.S. support for the Kurdish YPG or People's Protection Units which he regards as an arm of the Kurdistan Worker's Party that he considers a terrorist group. It would seem a simple step for the U.S. to at the very least accede immediately to the request of Turkey for help for its forces attacking Al-Bab.