Istanbul – Four jets from Saudi Arabia’s air force landed in Turkey on Friday and would be stationed at the Incirlik airbase in the south of the country.
The two countries reached a deal on the deployment early February, and their armies carried out joint air force exercises barley 10 days after.
According to Turkish officials, the planes are meant to take part in action against the Islamic State extremist group.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
The arrival of the Saudi jets comes as a ceasefire brokered by the U.S. and Russia for Syria is expected to go into effect at midnight Damascus time (2200 GMT), the agreement excludes Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other groups on a UN terrorist list.
Media reports say the planes are presently stationed at the airbase, which is also used by the U.S. under a deal reached in 2015 to bomb Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
Rebels in Syria, backed by both Turkey and Saudi Arabia, are on the back foot as Turkey had said it would only carry out ground operations in Syria if the U.S. was on board. (dpa/NAN)
