Report: US shares intelligence with Turkey about Kurdish rebels

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The United States began sharing intelligence with Turkey about positions of Kurdish rebels on Wednesday, NTV television quoted the foreign minister as saying. Turkey - which has massed tens of thousands of troops along the Iraqi border - had been waiting for the United States to start sharing real-time intelligence, sometimes within minutes, to stage a cross-border offensive against Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq. "The share of real-time intelligence began as of today," private NTV television quoted Foreign Minister Ali Babacan as saying. "This is very important." Babacan was not speaking live on television, but NTV and CNN-Turk televisions reported his statement. Babacan said the government, which has been authorized by Parliament to order an incursion into Iraq if needed, would "no doubt" fulfill its responsibility, NTV said.