U.S. warplanes to use Turkish bases for anti-IS air raids: report

Turkey has agreed to allow U.S. manned and unmanned warplanes to launch air raids on the Islamic State (IS) extremist group from airbases on Turkish soil, according to U.S. media reports on Friday.

The agreement, which would allow U.S. warplanes to engage in anti-IS campaign from the Turkish bases of Incirlik and Diyarbakir, was sealed late Wednesday after a phone call between U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, The New York Times quoted anonymous U.S. officials as saying.

The new pact would facilitate the U.S. bombing of IS targets, as the two airbases are located much closer to the Syrian border than Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan, where U.S. air raids on the IS were currently launched.

A statement from the White House on Wednesday after the phone call just said that the two leaders discussed deepening cooperation in the fight against the IS, as well as efforts to " bring security and stability to Iraq and a political settlement to the conflict in Syria." It didn't mention any agreement on the use of airbases in Turkey.

The New York Times report also said that the United States would not openly talk about the pact until the Turkish government "acknowledged it publicly."

Describing the pact as a "game changer," U.S. officials reportedly said that recent IS attacks on Turkish targets had played a vital role in Turkey's decision to play a more direct and aggressive part in fighting the extremist group. Endite