Turkey and the United States have taken a major step toward confronting the Islamic State militant group and trying to address the Syrian conflict.

What has Turkey agreed to do?

Turkey recently gave the United States two bases from which to conduct airstrikes against the Islamic State and agreed to cooperate with the United States and certain Syrian rebel groups in their battle against the group.

Though Turkey opposes the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, it was not until very recently that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was willing to confront fighters from the group who have streamed into Syria across Turkey’s border.

What changed?

The Islamic State attacked new areas along the Turkey-Syria border last week, and the Turkish government blamed the militant group for a deadly bombing in the eastern Turkish town of Suruc.