Turkish F-16 warplanes and drones have flown over northern Iraq to track the movement of Islamic militants, the Sabah newspaper said. Officials wouldn’t immediately confirm the report.

While Turkey’s air force has often in the past entered Iraqi airspace in response to threats posed by ethnic Kurdish rebels, the Sabah report signals heightened concern in Ankara over the advance of Sunni guerrillas of the Islamic State.

The militants have been holding hostage 49 diplomats, policemen and civilians, most of them Turkish, since they raided Turkey’s consulate in the Iraqi city of Mosul on June 11 at the beginning of a major offensive. Car bombings today in Kirkuk, occupied by forces of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, now an ally of Turkey, as the Islamic State advanced toward its front lines, have raised tensions further.

“Turkey is trying to gather intelligence against what it sees as a threat to its economic and energy interests in the region,” Oytun Orhan, an analyst at the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies in Ankara, said by phone today in reference to Kurdish oil shipments via Turkey. “Turkey would support Iraqi Kurdish allies against the Islamic militants, however, the ongoing hostage standoff has seriously tied Turkey’s hands.”

Government, military and intelligence officials met for three hours today to discuss developments in Iraq and the security situation along Turkey’s southern border, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglusaid.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...s-advance.html

The New Ottoman Empire Is Return.........