Turkey, US ’Planning Joint Operation against ISIL’
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - It has been reported that the United States and Turkey are together planning to conduct a joint operation against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) rebel group in Syria, World Bulletin website said.
Speaking to the Daily Sabah, an unnamed source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Turkey and the US will be co-operating against the armed group.
The ISIL, originally starting off as Al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq, broke off from Al-Qaeda when ISIL commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi disobeyed the orders of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahri to pull out of Syria.
Zawahri had designated affiliate al-Nusra Front to fight in Syria under the command of al-Baghdadi's former right-hand man Abu Muhammad al-Golani, Al-Manar reported.
Instead of pulling out of Syria, the ISIL turned their guns on the Nusra Front as well as other Syrian opposition forces including the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) and local Turkmen and Kurdish groups.
Fedaa Majnoun, a senior FSA official, has said that once Bashar al-Assad's regime has been ousted, the FSA will be fighting to rid Syria of the ISIL, which instead of fighting regime forces has been busy fighting the Syrian opposition.
The Daily Sabah quoted one source saying "ISIL members do not consider Turks as Muslims according to their understanding of Islam. They think that a NATO ally, secular and a democratic country cannot be Muslim. As a result, they do not avoid killing Turks."
