TOPSHOTS
Relatives mourn over the graves of two fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) during their funeral in Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey after the bodies of 13 militants were repatriated from Iraq on August 5, 2015. Europe and the United States urged Turkey to show a "proportionate response" in the face of daily attacks by Kurdish militants amid growing concern over the scale of Ankara's air campaign against the rebels. Ankara is waging a two-pronged cross-border "anti-terror" bombing campaign against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and PKK rebels in northern Iraq. But so far the raids have overwhelmingly targeted the Kurdish rebels. AFP PHOTO / ILYAS AKENGIN

ANKARA: An armed drone taking off from Turkey launched a strike on the Islamic State group yesterday, a US official said, as Turkey's foreign minister said American aircraft had begun to arrive at a Turkish base close to the border with Syria and an "extensive" fight against the extremists would begin soon.

Also yesterday, Syria's foreign minister said Damascus would support efforts against IS, as long as the fight is coordinated with the Syrian government. Ending years of reluctance, Turkey carried out airstrikes against IS targets in Syria late last month and agreed to allow US warplanes to use Incirlik Air Base for operations, taking a more front-line role in the US-led coalition's fight against the extremists.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said a drone had launched an airstrike from Turkey for the first time yesterday, but provided no further details. He said the US was planning to fly manned aircraft out of Turkey but that had not yet begun. US officials had said the first armed drone missions out of Turkey began last weekend although they did not conduct airstrikes at the time.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Kuala-Lumpur, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the battle against the IS from the Turkish air base would begin soon, but didn't elaborate.

"As part of the agreement reached with the United States, we have made great strides on the technicalities of Incirlik's use and the US aircraft have started to arrive," the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted him as telling reporters. "Soon we will together start an extensive battle against Daesh." He was using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

Effective fight has began

The Turkish minister also told reporters that once the "effective" fight has begun, the ground would become safer for moderate opposition forces fighting IS. His comments came following reports that members of the Free Syrian Army who went through a US training program to fight Islamic State militants were captured by the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in Syria.

Syrian's state media quoted Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem as saying in Tehran on Wednesday said the fight against the IS should be coordinated with Syria. "We are with any effort to fight Daesh as long as it is in coordination with the Syrian government otherwise it is an infringement on Syria's sovereignty," al-Moallem was quoted as saying by Syrian state TV. Al-Moallem has been in Iran since Tuesday where he is believed to have been discussing an Iranian initiative to try to end Syria's four-year conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people.

According to the Lebanon-based pro-Syrian Al-Mayadeen TV, the four-point Iranian initiative calls for an immediate cease-fire, formation of a national unity government, amending the constitution to reassure ethnic and religious minorities and holding internationally supervised elections. Iran is Syria's strongest ally in the region and has backed Assad since the country's crisis began in March 2011. - AP