US to push Turkey to keep foreign fighters out of Syria

Turkey may find it hard to play a public role in the coalition the United States is building to strike at Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in Iraq and possibly Syria for fear the militant group might retaliate against dozens of Turks held hostage.

President Barack Obama has said he hopes to devise a regional strategy to try to counter IS, which has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, but current and former U.S. officials say they expect Turkey to avoid any major public role.

An ally in the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, Turkey is the only Muslim nation in a "core coalition" of 10 countries committed to battle ISIL militants in Iraq that the United States announced on Friday at the NATO summit in Newport, Wales.

It is unclear to what extent the coalition may target ISIL in Syria, where the Islamist militants enjoy safe haven.

The bulwark of NATO's southeastern flank, Turkey has sensitive relations with seven sometimes unstable neighbors, bordering not only Syria, the origin of the ISIL threat, but Iraq, where the Islamist group took dozens of Turks hostage.

ISIL is holding some 46 Turkish citizens hostage, including diplomats seized from the Turkish consulate in Mosul when it overran Iraq's second-largest city in June.

In deference to Turkey's predicament, Washington aims to have Ankara focus on halting the flow of foreign militants, including many from the United States and Western Europe, who have crossed its territory to join the fight in Syria.

"Everybody understands that the Turks are in a special category," said a U.S. official on condition of anonymity, alluding to the safety of Turkey's hostages and the reluctance of one neighbor to attack another for fear of...