For the first time since 2013, ISIS has no border with NATO

[Beet]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/for-the-first-time-since-2013-isis-has-no-border-with-nato/2016/09/04/24a032ae-72dc-11e6-9781-49e591781754_story.html

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Excellent Erdogan!

[palandio]

Umm, while it is certainly relieving that ISIS has no border with NATO anymore and ISIS can't fire artillery on Turkish territory anymore, I don't get the whole "access" thing.

Did ISIS have "access" to the outside world (i.e. Turkey) before the recent sweep? I thought Turkey had sealed off the border some months ago?
Does the whole "access" issue depend on whether ISIS borders Turkey or some Syrian territory controlled by Turkey and its rebel proxies?
Isn't a real institutionalized border like the one between Turkey and Syria actually easier to control than an ever changing civil war frontline? Wouldn't it be easier for ISIS to buy supply from rebels in Syria than to smuggle it across the border?

[Simfan34]

I don't buy the coup conspiracy theories, but Erdogan remains an all-around sketchy character, this being the latest sign. Every indication suggests this offense is targeted at the YPG rather than ISIL, and is for the benefit of Jabhat Fatah as-Sham and the other Salafist"moderate-not-moderate" opposition fronts backed by the Saudis, Qatar, and other states in the Gulf (which aren't necessarily the same groups, I don't know).

Considering the YPG is the closest thing to an unambiguously good actor in this conflict (and even then one can't help but feel that, upon closer inspection, they come across as a post-communist front organization), this is yet another negative development in an endless series of unfortunate events.

[specific_name]

It only took him 5 years to stop supporting Islamists inside another nation, bravo. Good timing since the coup against him failed he seems to be cozying to Putin and therefore more than willing to do the dirty work against the Kurds for Assad.

[GMantis]

So ISIS will have to sell their oil now through the territory of the Syrian opposition, instead of directly through Turkey (presuming of course the Turkish resolve to seriously fight ISIS continues for long).