Turkey Begins First Round of Airstrikes Against Islamic State in Syria

Turkey began its first round of airstrikes against the Islamic State on Syrian soil this week, with Turkish leaders vowing a more aggressive approach to defeating the terrorist organization.

The deluge of airstrikes on key locations in Syria took place shortly after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama via phone.

Along with beginning an onslaught of airstrikes against the Islamic State on Syrian soil, the Turkish government also opened its airbases to the U.S. military for the purpose of fighting the terrorist group.

According to The Washington Post, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Friday that the government had confirmed open access of its air bases to "manned and unmanned aircraft from the U.S. and other coalition countries."

The Turkish government also reportedly conducted 290 arrests of suspected Islamic State militants nationwide this week.

Andreas Krieg, an analyst at King's College London, told the Associated Press recently that Turkey has taken a stricter approach to the Islamic State due to pressure from western powers and the dangerous growth of the terrorist organization within its own borders.

"There is significant evidence that ISIS has built a network and an infrastructure in Turkey to support its operations in both Syria and Iraq," Krieg told the media outlet this week. "Turkey has never thought that these jihadists would ever become a problem for Turkey itself. Quite on the contrary, they were under the impression that jihadists who wanted to go to Syria are embarking on a local — not a global — jihad."