A day after hyping the idea that having warplanes fly over the ISIS city of al-Bab, but not bombing them, amounted to a “show of force” in support of Turkey, the Pentagon is now hyping that they’re going to “keep supporting” Turkey in al-Bab, and that might include more than just taking a good look at it while they fly by.
Pentagon spokesman Col. John Dorrian claimed talks “at a diplomat level” are ongoing with Turkey and that the US is prepared to “offer” additional support to Turkey, though no such offer has yet been made, and it isn’t clear what that might entail.
Turkey has been invading al-Bab for weeks, with limited success, and last week openly requested “air support” from the US-led coalition against ISIS forces. The only air support that has happened yet was from Russia, who launched airstrikes against ISIS targets outside of al-Bab.
The sudden talk of doing more, which is to say do anything at all, likely reflects the anger among Turkish officials about the lack of support forthcoming, with both Turkey’s Defense Minister and Foreign Minister suggesting they should expel the US from the Incirlik Air Base over the lack of support for fighting ISIS.