A suspected Islamic State suicide bombing that killed 32 people in a Turkish border town is unlikely to push Ankara to strike against the group in Syria, where it still sees Kurdish separatism and President Bashar Assad as the major threats.
Turkey has been a reluctant partner in a U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, refusing a front-line role in military action and arguing only Assad's ouster — not just airstrikes on the radical Islamists — can bring peace. It is believed to favor some less radical Islamists who vie with the Islamic State.
Ankara fears advances by Kurdish militia fighters, who now control the majority of the Syrian side of the border, will fuel separatist sentiment among its own Kurdish minority, potentially reigniting a festering three-decade insurgency. U.S. air support for the Kurds is viewed with deep suspicion.
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