Turkey, U.S. plan Syria 'ISIL-free' zone

BAGHDAD -- Turkey and the United States have agreed in general terms on a plan that envisions U.S. warplanes, Syrian insurgents and Turkish forces working together to sweep Islamic State militants from a 60-mile-long strip of northern Syria along the Turkish border, U.S. and Turkish officials say.

The plan would create what officials from both countries are calling an Islamic State-free zone controlled by relatively moderate Syrian insurgents, which the Turks say could also be a "safe zone" for displaced Syrians.

While many details have yet to be determined, including how deep the strip would extend into Syria, the plan would significantly intensify U.S. and Turkish military action against Islamic State militants in the country, as well as the U.S.'s coordination with Syrian insurgents on the ground.

The plan was described in recent days by four senior U.S. officials, who were briefed on the talks and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational planning.

"Details remain to be worked out, but what we are talking about with Turkey is cooperating to support partners on the ground in northern Syria who are countering ISIL," a senior Obama administration official said using an acronym for the Islamic State. "The goal is to establish an ISIL-free zone and ensure greater security and stability along Turkey's border with Syria."

While the U.S. is focused on the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, both the Turks and the Syrian insurgents see defeating President Bashar Assad of Syria as their first priority, even as Turkey has escalated its efforts against the Islamic State since the group was said to have carried out its first deadly bombing on Turkish soil last week.

Turkish officials and Syrian opposition leaders are describing the agreement as something just short of a prize they have long sought as a tool against Assad: a no-fly zone in Syria near the Turkish border. They want such a zone in order to curb devastating Syrian government airstrikes on opposition areas, to allow refugees in Turkey to go home and to insulate Turkey from the war, and they call the new plan a "safe zone" that could achieve some of those goals.

U.S. officials say this plan is not directed against Assad. They also say that while a de facto safe zone could indeed be a byproduct of the plan, a formal no-fly zone is not part of the deal. They said it was not included in the surprise agreement reached last week to let U.S. warplanes take off from Turkish air bases to attack Islamic State fighters in Syria, even though Turkey had long said it would give that permission only in exchange for a no-fly zone.

Instead, U.S. officials said Turkey were working toward an agreement on the details of an operation to clear Islamic State militants from a heavily contested area roughly between the eastern outskirts of the city of Aleppo and the Euphrates River.

U.S. officials emphasized that the depth of the buffer zone to be established was one of the important operational details that had yet to be decided. But one senior official said, "You can be assured many of the principal population centers will be covered."

The plan does not envision Turkish ground troops entering Syria, although long-range artillery could be used across the border. Turkish ground forces would work on their side of the border to stem the Islamic State's ability to infiltrate foreign fighters and supplies into Syria.

Turkey, a NATO member, requested a meeting of the alliance for today about its fight against the Islamic State and Kurdish militants. The emergency session at NATO headquarters was requested under Article 4 of the treaty that founded the alliance, which empowers its 28 member states to seek such consultations when they consider their "territorial integrity, political independence or security" to be in jeopardy.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who will lead the private session, said Turkey requested it after recent "heinous terrorist attacks," which included an Islamic State suicide bombing near Turkey's border with Syria that left 32 people dead and an attack from the extremist group on Turkish forces, which killed a soldier.

"NATO allies follow developments very closely and stand in solidarity with Turkey," Stoltenberg said in announcing the meeting of the alliance's main political decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council.

According to official NATO records, there have been only four other so-called Article 4 meetings since the U.S.-led alliance was created in 1949.

Most recently, NATO ambassadors convened in March 2014 at Poland's request after Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

NATO officials said Turkey had not requested major military support from the alliance. A number of members are already a part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State.

The official NATO announcement of Tuesday's meeting of alliance ambassadors said one of the reasons Turkey sought it was to explain "the measures it is taking." Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters Monday he would spell out in detail the security threats his country faces.

"We expect solidarity and support from our NATO allies," he said, without elaborating.

Information for this article was contributed by Anne Barnard, Michael R. Gordon, Eric Schmitt, Ceylan Yeginsu and Karam Shoumali of The New York Times.

A Section on 07/28/2015

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