Turkey ‘has plans’ for joint US operation against IS

Turkey’s foreign minister on Wednesday says Ankara “has plans” for a joint operation with the United States to end the presence of Islamic State militants along any part of its border with Syria.

Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu tells the state-run news agency Anatolia that IS militants still have a presence on some of Turkey’s border with northern Syria.

“We have certain plans to put an end to the control that IS is still exercising on a zone of our frontier,” he says, without specifying the nature of the plans but saying they would be jointly implemented with the US.

“When these plans are completed, our operations will continue with more and more intensity. You will see this in the days to come.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry says in an interview with CNN late Tuesday that “we are entering an operation with the Turks” to shut off 98 kilometers (61 miles) of border still not secure from IS.

— AFP