Turkey to allow use of its soil for air strikes against ISIS

After nine months of negotiations, Turkey has agreed to let the United States use an air base in southern Turkey to launch attacks against ISIS, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The Incirlik air base is 60 miles from the Syrian border, and will allow armed drones and planes to strike quickly against ISIS targets in northern Syria, an Obama administration official requesting anonymity told The Washington Post. President Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on the phone Wednesday, sealing the agreement. Previously, Turkey refused to let the base be used in the fight against ISIS, and said it wanted Washington to focus just as much on removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power as it did combating ISIS.

Tensions are high along the Turkish border with Syria; earlier on Thursday, ISIS militants opened fire on Turkish troops, killing one and wounding at least two others. Turkish forces then fired artillery into ISIS territory, killing two.

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