Turkish minister: US will provide Syrian rebels with air support

The U.S. and Turkey have agreed in “principle” to provide air protection to Syrian rebels being trained and equipped to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to Turkey’s foreign minister.  

“There is a principle agreement on providing air support,” Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, told the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper in comments published Monday, according to The Associated Press. 

{mosads}Congress last year approved $500 million for a program to train 15,000 moderate Syrian rebels over three years as a ground force to take on ISIS, but some lawmakers say the U.S. will also have to protect the rebels from both ISIS and the Syrian regime when they go into battle. 

“They have to be supported via air,” Cavusoglu told Daily Sabah during a visit to Seoul, South Korea, the AP reported. “If you do not protect them or provide air support, what is the point?”

Providing support for the rebels fighting Syrian forces under President Bashar Assad could draw the U.S. into a war with Syria and expose U.S. airmen to greater risk, since the regime has sophisticated air defenses. 

Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said, “of course we would have some responsibility” to protect the rebels fighting against ISIS and regime forces, and floated the idea of air support.

“We definitely would absolutely work to protect them, certainly with that kind of ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] help, potentially air support help, yes. It depends on where they are, but again, we have some obligation to these people,” Carter said on May 7.

Turkey has been reluctant to cooperate with the U.S. in the ISIS fight, since the U.S. has been unwilling to target Assad, whom Turkey sees as a greater threat than ISIS. 

Earlier this year, Turkey agreed to host a training site for the rebels, but progress was slowed by disagreement with the U.S. over whether the rebels could target Assad’s forces as well. 

Turkey has also called for the U.S. to provide a no-fly zone in Syria, which so far the U.S. has refused to do. 

Turkey has been unwilling to allow the U.S. to fly missions from a southern Turkey air base, closer to Syria that would allow U.S. fighter jets to shave as many as five hours off their flight times.  

“While the fight against [ISIS] is prioritized, the regime must be also stopped,” Cavusoglu said.