Turkey vowed Tuesday to give full support to efforts to free a key Syrian border town from the control of Islamic State (IS) jihadists as anticipation grew of a major Ankara-backed offensive against the group. Turkish forces also pounded jihadists in Syria with new artillery strikes after a deadly suicide bombing in the city of Gaziantep at the weekend and repeated rocket fire across the border. Without confirming the operation, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu pledged to give “all kinds of support” to push the jihadists out of Jarabulus. He is by far the highest-ranking Western official to visit Turkey since the coup attempt to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In an interview with private NTV television, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Turkey saw Jarabulus “as a national security matter”.

Source: Hindustan Times August 24, 2016 02:03 UTC