The Turkish government has taken new steps toward military action in Iraq. On Tuesday, leading political and military officials authorized troops to cross the border to fight Kurdish rebels. State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said the U.S. opposes a cross-border raid.

Sean McCormack: “We have counseled both Iraq as well as Turkey that the way to address the issue is to work cooperatively. In our view, it is not going to lead to a long-term, durable solution to have — to have significant incursions from Turkey into Iraq. We’ve said this for some time; it’s not new. So our focus is going to be working with each side, with the Turks, with the Iraqis, and encouraging them to work together on what is a very difficult and persistent problem.”