US carries out strikes near Syria's Al-Bab after Turkish criticism

The US military said on Tuesday it carried out air strikes in Syria against Daesh targets of interest to both Washington and Ankara near the town of Al-Bab, following Turkish criticism of insufficient US support for its ground offensive.

US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the US-led military coalition battling Daesh, counted four strikes in recent days against Daesh targets that he said were in both countries’ “mutual interest.”

“We saw a window of opportunity where it was in our mutual interest to get those targets destroyed,” Dorrian said, adding the targets were identified by working with Turkey.

They included an armored personnel carrier and Daesh tactical units, he said.

“This is something we expect to continue doing. We strike (Daesh) targets anywhere in Syria or Iraq that they can be found,” Dorrian told reporters at the Pentagon.

Dorrian added the targets were “mutually developed” by the United States and Turkey. But the extent of US support for Turkey’s actions on the ground around Al-Bab remained unclear.

Turkey has been angered by US policy in Syria, particularly Washington’s support for Kurdish militia fighters it sees as an extension of PKK militants fighting within Turkey, a group that Washington and Ankara both classify as a terrorist organization.

Turkey has also accused Washington of failing to do enough to support its push to take Al-Bab from Daesh even as the country provides the US-led coalition access to an air base to stage operations in Syria.