Success could create haven for refugees from Syria, but risks angering Kurdish forces

Turkey and the United States have agreed on the outlines of a plan to rout Islamic State militants from a strip of Syrian territory along the Turkish border - a plan that opens the possibility of a safe haven for tens of thousands of displaced Syrians but one that also sets up a potential conflict with US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces in the area.

The move further embroils Turkey, a key NATO ally, in Syria's civil war and catapults it into a front-line position in the global war against IS.