Turkey has agreed to allow Syrian opposition fighters to be trained on Turkish soil.
At least 2,000 fighters will be trained by Turkish and American special forces, a Turkish official said Saturday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Turkey’s intelligence service will select and screen the fighters, who will be trained in groups of 400.
“We have an agreement on this, with operational details to be worked out through ongoing consultations and planning,” a senior Obama administration official told the Journal.
Turkey borders the besieged Syrian city of Kobani, which has faced attacks for weeks from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Kurdish fighters defending Kobani urged the U.S.-led coalition Saturday to ramp up airstrikes on the Islamic State forces in the area.
“The airstrikes are benefiting us, but Islamic State is bringing tanks and artillery from the east,” the head of the Kobani defense council told Reuters. “We didn’t see them with tanks, but yesterday we saw T-57 tanks.”
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan demanded and received an apology from United States Vice President Joe Biden last week after Biden said Erdogan admitted Turkey had erred by allowing foreign fighters to enter Syria through Turkey.
