Special to WorldTribune.com

Turkish jets bombed Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) positions inside Syria for the first time on July 23.

F-16 fighter jets launched the attacks from the southern city of Diyarbakir and dropped four guided bombs on ISIL targets, killing nine and wounding 12, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The air strikes come as Turkey, after months of negotiations, relented on the use of its Incirlik air base by the U.S.-led coalition. The New York Times reported that Turkey agreed to allow manned and unmanned U.S. aircraft to use the air base in what a senior U.S. official called a “game changer.”

Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper reported that the agreement was finalized on July 22 in a telephone conversation between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Barack Obama. Prior to the agreement, U.S. air strikes originated from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf.

As the government of NATO ally Turkey began to move in an Islamist direction more than a decade ago, requests by the U.S. military to use its air bases to conduct the war in Iraq were repeatedly rebuffed. And when ISIL burst on the scene in Iraq last year, Turkey was even accused of facilitating the flow of jihadists and supplies.

With the rise of ISIL and the U.S.-led negotiations resulting in this month’s Iran nuclear agreement, the geopolitical landscape in the region is changing.

The Turkish air strikes on ISIL came hours after the first major cross-border clashes between Turkey and the terror group took place, leaving one Turkish soldier and one jihadist dead. On July 20, a suspected ISIL suicide bomber killed 32 anti-ISIL activists in the southern Turkish city of Suruc while they were on a trip to raise awareness of the Syrian city of Kobane.

Turkey, which has been criticized for falling far short in contributing to the fight against ISIL, made the decision to launch the air strikes after a July 23 meeting of security officials in Ankara chaired by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

“In this context…. an operation was carried out against targets belonging to Daesh inside the Syrian border,” a statement from Davutoglu’s office said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL.

“Three of our F-16s hit… three targets belonging to Daesh. The government of the Turkish Republic is determined to take the necessary measures to protect national security.”

  ‘Game changer’: Turkey opens air base to U.S., Ahmet Davutoglu, carries out first air strikes against ISIL positions, Incirlik air base, opens air base to U.S., Recep Tayyip Erdogan, WorldTribune.com