The Pentagon says the military launched its first armed drone missions out of Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base during the past weekend.
“At this point, no actual strikes have been conducted, but they [the drones] have begun flying armed,” Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters Monday.
Davis says the U.S. also plans to start conducting manned aircraft flights from Incirlik Air Base.
Was the Nusra Front targeted by the US?
The new flight missions from Turkey’s base come as the U.S. launched attacks against non-Islamic State forces for the first time, according to Davis.
He says the U.S. launched air strikes Friday at forces that were attacking U.S.-trained Syrian rebels.
The rebels, called New Syrian Forces by Washington, were trained by the coalition to fight the Islamic State militant group.
The U.S. had vowed to protect these trained Syrian rebels against a broad range of threats when they returned to their home country.
The Pentagon spokesman said the attackers look “an awful lot like Nusra,” referring to the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria known as the al-Nusra Front.
He told VOA the attackers’ affiliation has not been confirmed at this time, but that the U.S. did not believe they were Syrian government fighters.
“We are not at war with the Assad regime,” Davis said. “We have no reason to believe that the people who we engaged with, who engaged the forces friendly to us on Friday were associated with the regime.”
However, the White House on Monday warned the Syrian regime not to impede their actions.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Syria “should not interfere” with operations by U.S.-trained forces. Earnest said that Assad has so far complied with U.S. demands but that does not mean he is regarded as “an ally in our fight” against the Islamic State.
Reports that Nusra Front was Targeted
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based pro-opposition group that relies on sources inside Syria, said Friday that warplanes believed to belong to the U.S.-led coalition had bombed Nusra Front positions near Azaz, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Aleppo city.
The bombing came after several rebel groups in northern Syria reported they had come under fire from the Nusra Front.
A representative for Division 30, which was one of the targeted rebel groups, said Nusra Front fighters attacked the group’s headquarters near Azaz about 4.30 a.m., killing five members.
The representative, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, declined to say whether his group was among those trained by the U.S., saying only: “The Division supports any side that helps Syria and the Syrians against Daesh,” referring to the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
