Turkey approves military action against ISIL in Iraq, Syria

(Al Jazeera): Turkey's parliament has authorised the government to carry out cross-border military operations into Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Thursday's vote also allows foreign soldiers to be stationed in Turkey and to use its military bases for the same purposes.

The motion, put forward by the ruling AK Party, passed with 298 votes.

Ankara has come under pressure to play a more robust role in the US-led military campaign against ISIL after the group advanced to within clear sight of Turkish military positions on the Syrian border.

Turkish Army tanks during a military parade.

Turkey shares a porous 900km border with Syria, and has seen the conflict frequently spill across its frontier and has responded in kind when mortars and shells fired from Syria have hit its soil, in some cases killing Turkish civilians.