Reuters ISTANBUL: Turkey's parliament will debate allowing foreign military forces to use Turkish bases for cross-border operations against ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq, according to a government proposal submitted late on Tuesday. "The cabinet of ministers has decided ... to ask permission from parliament ... to send the Turkish Armed Forces if necessary to foreign countries for cross-border operations and interventions, and to position foreign militaries in Turkey for the same purposes," the proposal said. Parliament is expected to debate the proposal on Thursday, with the ruling AK Party's strong majority meaning it is likely to be approved.
US expands effort to track foreign fighters in Syria: security official
David Ljunggren| Reuters OTTAWA: The United States is making "enhanced and concerted efforts" to track foreign fighters in Syria who may be planning attacks on American territory, a top U.S. official said on Tuesday. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said on a visit to Canada that about 12,000 people from around the world had traveled to Syria over the last three years to fight in the civil war and join militant groups such as Islamic State, also known as ISIL. The United States began air and missile strikes on Islamic State strongholds in Syria last week. Canada is debating whether to contribute fighter jets to the campaign. "Our government is making enhanced and concerted efforts to track Syrian foreign fighters who come from or seek to enter our country," Johnson said in a speech to a business audience in Ottawa. "We are concerned that not only may these foreign fighters join ISIL or other extremist groups in Syria, they may also be recruited by these extremist groups to leave Syria and conduct external attacks," Johnson said. He said the FBI had arrested a number of people who tried to travel to Syria from the United States. Last week, the head of the FBI said about a dozen Americans were known to be fighting with militants in Syria, and some had already returned to the United States. "The good news for our country and yours, I believe, is that over the last 13 years we have vastly improved our ability and detect terrorist plots overseas before they reach our homelands," Johnson said. "The bad news is we continue to face real terrorist enemies and real terrorist threats." Johnson called for better information sharing between the United States and Canada and with European nations. Mirroring comments made by other U.S. security officials earlier this month, he said he was also concerned about the potential for so-called lone wolf attacks. Johnson said an example was the brothers suspected of detonating homemade bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in April last year. "In many ways this is the hardest terrorist threat to detect and the one I worry about the most," Johnson said.
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