On July 24, Turkey launched “Operation Martyr Yalcin” against ISIS positions in Syria and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in Northern Iraq.
The air strikes began in the early morning a day after Islamic State militants attacked a Turkish border patrol in the town of Elbeyli in Kilis Province, killing one soldier and injuring two others. The operation was named after the Turkish soldier killed in the initial attack, Yalçın Nane.
At around 3:40 LT three F-16s took off from Diyarbakir airbase and bombed 3 ISIS positions in northern Syria dropping GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided bombs. The Turkish jets did not enter Syrian airspace but dropped their bombs from inside Turkish airspace.
Post-strike analysis assessed 35 ISIS militants were killed by the first wave of raids that was followed later on the same day (starting around 22:30 LT) by a larger air strike against PKK positions in northern Iraq. The mission is said to have involved 20 F-16s that according to witnesses and initial reports actually did enter Syrian and Iraqi airspace.
The air strikes in Iraq allegedly killed the PKK commander Murat Karayılan, along with other fighters.
On July 25, a third wave of air strikes was launched against PKK. This consisted of three sub-waves, the first and second of which involved 70 F-16s that conducted their mission, returned to Dyarbakir, and were re-armed and re-launched. The third wave was reportedly conducted by 25 F-4E-2020 Phantoms from Eskisehir, which were temporarily deployed to Erhac.
In the subsequent days, F-16s (from 181 Filo with support from 161 Filo) from Dyarbakir, mainly focused on PKK positions in both in northern Iraq and inside Turkey, as well as on ISIS targets in northern Syria.
The Turkish Air Force has been preparing to conduct a similar air campaign for the 15 years through Anatolian Eagle (AE) series of exercises.
Held three times a year at Konya airbase, in the Central Anatolia region, AE is a medium-scale air exercise inspired by the U.S. Red Flag and Maple Flag series, the aim of which is to train fighter pilots for the first few days of a modern conflict.
The first such drills took place in 2001, then, throughout the years, AE has become more complex and effective in preparing Turkish (and allied) aircrews to war.
Here's Turkey striking an ISIS position in Syria:
Here's the video of Turkish jets striking ISIS:
H/T to Arda Mevlutoglu and ACIG forum for providing useful information for this article.