The U.S. military said on Tuesday it carried out air strikes in Syria against Islamic State targets of interest to both Washington and Ankara near the town of al-Bab, following Turkish criticism of insufficient U.S. support for its ground offensive. "We saw a window of opportunity where it was in our mutual interest to get those targets destroyed," Dorrian said, adding the targets were identified by working with Turkey. We strike (Islamic State) targets anywhere in Syria or Iraq that they can be found," Dorrian told reporters at the Pentagon. Dorrian added the targets were "mutually developed" by the United States and Turkey. But the extent of U.S. support for Turkey's actions on the ground around al-Bab remained unclear.

Source: Egypt Independent January 18, 2017 08:28 UTC