The U.S. military has begun flying unarmed Predator drones out of a Turkish air base as part of a joint Turkish-American counterterrorism operation in northern Iraq, according to a senior defense official.
But they are based in Incirlik, far from eastern Turkey:
Pentagon officials declined to say whether the four Predator drones being flown out of Incirlik Air Base, a joint U.S.-Turkish military installation, would be allowed to cross into Iraqi airspace. The sensors and cameras on the Predator drones have a range of several miles.
Turkey's foreign minister told reporters in Ankara on Saturday that the flight route of the drones would be controlled by the Turkish military.
So, if drones taking off from Incirlik flying to and from the Iraq-Turkey border area have a flight route that takes them along the Syria-Turkey border as they go to and from their destination, they could aim their cameras south to see what is going on across the border inside Syria. If the Turks choose to cross the Syria-Turkey border to set up humanitarian safety zones for opponents of Assad to seek refuge, that would be quite useful.
The article does not say how long this arrangement has been in effect.
