The United States last night carried out the first air raid from the Turkish base of Incirlik against objectives of the Islamic State in Syria. In a brief statement, the Pentagon announced that the F-16 were launched from the base in southern Turkey, giving no details on the number of targets hit.
Since August 1st, the United States has carried out unmanned missions of its own by Incirlik. F-16 deployed add a new dimension to the air campaign, due to the risk of Syrian air defenses. According to the Pentagon, the Incirlik base has the main advantage of being in close proximity to the goals of Islamic states in northern Syria, even though F-16 could also carry out missions on Iraq.
American fighters, to date, took off from advanced bases in the Persian Gulf region, as in Qatar and Jordan. The F-16 deployed at Incirlik are part of the Aviano 31 ° Fighter Wing and are equipped for surveillance and armed reconnaissance.
The presence of Syrian air defenses, will determine a reconfiguration of search and rescue forces in the Region. Despite the deployment, the six F-16 represent only a marginal improvement in flight operations against the Islamic State, but what matters is having brought Turkey into the conflict against terrorists, even if the perspective is different. In fact, while the United States is concentrated in the struggle against Islamic militants, supplying the Syrian Kurds, on the other hand Turkey wants to limit the growing Kurdish power along its southern border with Syria. The Turks fear that Kurdish successes in Iraq and Syria will encourage a new armed insurgency in Turkey, with PKK seeking an independent state.
However, the Syrian chaos has led to an awareness on the part of Turkey, which had already begun in the 2012, with the advanced request to NATO for a Patriot network to protect the south of the country.
(photo: US DoD archive)
