After a pre-dawn barrage of heavy artillery and airstrikes, Turkish tanks and special forces pushed into Syria on Wednesday in a U.S.-backed assault aiming to retake a border town from Islamic State militants and contain Kurdish expansion. It marked the NATO member's most significant military involvement so far in the Syria conflict.

The U.S. military has backed the operation with eight airstrikes, a senior defense official told Fox News. A second U.S. defense official said airstrikes were "still ongoing."

The unprecedented incursion marked a dangerous escalation in the Syrian conflict -- and demonstrates the twisted rivalries that run through the war. The U.S. has long pushed for more aggressive action by Turkey against ISIS. But Turkey's move to thwart Kurdish ambitions puts it on a path toward potential confrontation with Kurdish fighters in Syria who are also supported by the United States and have been the most effective force battling ISIS in northern Syria....

I see pictures of the fighters and I can't tell one side from the other. They are apparently now resorting to brightly colored flags and arm bands to try and tell the forces apart

(...)"We want to make clear that we find these clashes - in areas where ISIL is not located - unacceptable and a source of deep concern," said Brett McGurk, U.S special envoy for the fight against Islamic State, using an acronym for the jihadists.

"We call on all armed actors to stand down," he wrote on his official Twitter account, citing a statement from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Turkey, which is battling a Kurdish insurgency on its soil, has said its campaign has a dual goal of "cleansing" the region of Islamic State and stopping Kurdish forces filling the void and extending the area they control near Turkey's border....

An Istanbul court has issued an arrest warrant for Turkish basketball player Enes Kanter on charges of “being a member of a terrorist organisation” according to Turkey’s largest daily newspaper Hürriyet.

The 25-year-old moved to the United States in 2009 and has been playing professionally in the NBA since 2011.

The prosecutor who requested the arrest warrant has also asked the Turkish Minister of Justice to seek an international ‘red notice’ from Interpol, which requests foreign governments to locate and arrest an individual.

This report follows headlines from May 20th, when Kanter’s passport was cancelled, resulting in him temporarily being held at an airport in Romania, before being allowed to fly back to the US via London. Kanter contends this is a result of his outspoken criticisms of Turkish President Recep Erdoğan.

The 6'11" forward is a supporter of the Hizmet Movement of Fethullah Gülen, a former imam living in self-imposed exile in the US whom Erdoğan has accused of inciting last year’s failed coup.

Kanter’s pointed criticisms of Erdoğan such as claiming he staged the coup and calling him ‘the Hitler of our century’ in the video above has lead to being disowned by his own family in a letter published in a pro-government paper and numerous death threats over social media.

In interviews to American media, Kanter says he has not contacted family or friends in Turkey for over two years for fear of them being arrested and his father was fired from his university position after the coup.

He is unlikely to be extradited to Turkey due to the rarity of a red notice issuance. Furthermore, the Turkey-US extradition treaty requires a statement of facts and evidence must be presented and an individual cannot be extradited for a “political offense”.

Kanter took to Twitter to mock the arrest warrant, telling Turkish authorities “don’t waste your breath.” With his Turkish passport revoked, Kanter has stated his desire to become an American citizen.