Turkey has agreed with the United States to deploy American anti-missile systems on its border with Syria in May to counter increasingly frequent attacks by the Islamic State group, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
"We have reached an agreement to deploy American HIMARS missiles (highly mobile rocket-artillery system) on the Turkish side of the border," Çavuşoğlu told today's edition of Habertirk newspaper.
About 40 rockets were fired this year at the Turkish border town of Kilis from areas in Syria controlled by the Islamic State, and at least 17 civilians were killed in those attacks, according to the Turkish government.
In a rocket attack on Sunday, two people were killed and 25 were wounded in that city, where there are also many Syrian refugees and whose residents live in fear of new attacks.
Thanks to its mobility, the HIMARS anti-missile system can be placed in various places and is therefore very effective. It has a range of 90 kilometers compared to 40 kilometers, which is the range of the Turkish artillery, which is now retaliating against the attacks of extremists from Syria.
The Turkish minister also hopes that the talks with the American ally regarding the establishment of a security zone in the north of Turkey will bring concrete results.
"Our goal is to clear that 98-kilometer long strip from Daesh (Arabic abbreviation for the Islamic State), Çavuşoğlu said.
According to Agence France-Presse, Turkey has been advocating for the creation of such a zone since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, but Washington has refrained.
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