The United States has sent six F-16 Jets from the Thirty First Fighter Wing and 300 Key Personnel have been sent to Turkey's Incirlik Air Base on Sunday in support of the ongoing Coalition strikes against Syria's Islamic State.
F-16 Fighter Jets allow for faster airstrikes against the Islamic State targets. In July, Turkey accepted the U.S.'s longstanding plea to use Incirlik Air Base for launching airstrikes, finally joining the US led Coalition, according to Bloomberg.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey will open other bases for Coalition operations against the Islamic State. In a combined effort, the US and neighboring Coalition partners have launched approximately 6000 airstrikes over the past year in Iraq and Syria.
The Pentagon said U.S. forces have already made its' first airstrike from Turkey with drones, the same day as the US led drones and other warplanes arrived from Aviano Air Base in Italy, according to Voice of America.
With joint military action planned between the US and Turkey to clear the Islamic State militants in an area of Syria just over the Turkish border, the Allies have already begun their airstrikes against the terrorists. While the joint collaboration is long overdue, Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu saying an "extensive" fight lay ahead, according to the International Business Times.
Turkish officials, who fear its weak border with Syria will bring the conflict into Turkey, finally agreed to join the US-led Coalition last month. More fighter jets are expected to deploy soon to the new Incirlik Air Base for continued support in the effort against the Islamic State terrorists.
In June 2014, The Islamic State, made up of a Sunni radical group, formally declared the establishment of a "caliphate" – a state governed in accordance with Islamic law. They then took control of large sections of Iraq and Syria and continue to fight, aligning with other jihadist groups worldwide, according to BBC News.
