Having cleared the Islamic State (IS) from its border with Syria by leading groups of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Turkey is now preparing for the next phase of its Euphrates Shield operation, which involves moving south against the IS stronghold of al-Bab.

Turkish military planners were encouraged by the success of wresting the towns of Jarablus and al-Rai from IS with minimum clashes and casualties, but are aware that liberating al-Bab will be a tougher nut to crack and will require cooperation with US forces on the ground and in the air.

The fact that such cooperation is already underway was highlighted last week when certain elements under the FSA banner protested the presence of US special forces embedded with Turkish forces in the town of al-Rai (Cobanbey in Turkish).

Video footage shows protesters calling the US soldiers “dogs and pigs” and shouting “Christians and Americans have no place among us.” The incident is embarrassing for Turkey because it has been arguing that the FSA is made up of “moderate Islamic forces,” which wasn’t the impression given by the protesters.