ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey has been hitting the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria with artillery, a US military official confirmed, while praising Turkish forces for targeting the militants in Syria “to very good effect.” Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve, said efforts were underway to coordinate the attacks on ISIS. "We've seen the Turks fire some artillery to very good effect in the Manbij pocket. We're continuing to work with the Turks to tighten up our coordination with them on the artillery strikes they do in that area, but yes they are targeting," Warren said. He also stressed the importance of closer coordination, saying the United States would like to know where exactly Turkish artillery is going to target. "We want to ensure that we know exactly where they're going to strike before they strike," he said. "This is always the case in any type of a large outfit with as many moving parts as we have in this coalition." "There were some weather problems," he added, "We were having difficulty providing the type of air power we wanted to provide, and the Turks filled in artillery fire. So it was perfect. It happened the way it was supposed to happen." Turkey has reportedly escalated its attacks on ISIS in Syria and Iraq since last Tuesday’s terrorist attack in Istanbul, in which 10 Germans were killed. Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday that Turkish artillery in Iraq and Syria had killed 200 ISIS militants. The Turks claim that the Saudi-Syrian suicide bomber who carried out the Istanbul attack, 28-year-old Nabil Fadli, was from Manbij and his family is believed to still be there. The town is under ISIS occupation, with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) advancing toward it. Turkey is against such forces having a presence there, since the backbone of the SDF is the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey vehemently opposes.
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