REUTERS
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday the United States is starting an operation with Turkey to finish securing the northern Syrian border, an area that Islamic State militants have used as a lucrative smuggling route, according to Reuters.
"The entire border of northern Syria - 75% of it has now been shut off. And we are entering an operation with the Turks to shut off the other remaining 98 km (61 miles)," he said in an interview with CNN, Reuters reported.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the country has a plan for military action against the militants. The authorities have stated that they are ready to launch a military operation against the Islamic state in the near future.
The U.S. also announced their intention to step up, together with France, its air strikes on the positions of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.