(MENAFN- Arab News) ANKARA: The US and Turkey have agreed to work together to drive Daesh militants from northern Syria a senior US official said Monday as Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said its military could 'change the balance' in the region.

The potentially game-changing accord was revealed as Turkey fueled the growing anger of its Kurdish minority by shelling a Kurdish-held village in northern Syria as its warplanes continued to pound separatist targets in northern Iraq.
'The goal is to establish an Daesh-free zone and ensure greater security and stability along Turkey's border with Syria' the US official who asked not to be named told AFP using another acronym for the terrorist group.
Details of the zone 'remain to be worked out' the official said during a visit by US President Barack Obama to Ethiopia.
But the official added that 'any joint military efforts will not include the imposition of a no-fly zone' a long standing Turkish demand.
It would however entail Turkey NATO'S only mainly Muslim member supporting US 'partners on the ground' already fighting Daesh extremists. But many question whether Turkey is more interested in limiting Kurdish capabilities in Syria and Iraq than tackling Daesh.
Turkey has called an extraordinary NATO meeting for Tuesday over its two-pronged cross-border 'anti-terror' offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Daesh militants.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg backed Turkey's right to defend itself but told the BBC Sunday 'of course self-defense has to be proportionate.'
And he cautioned Ankara about burning bridges with the Kurds. 'For years there has been progress to try to find a peaceful political solution' he told Norwegian state broadcaster NRK.
'It is important not to renounce that... because force will never solve the conflict in the long term.'
The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) which routed Daesh from the Syrian flashpoint of Kobani early this year with the help of Western air strikes said Turkish tanks hit its positions and those of allied Arab rebels overnight in Zur Maghar village in Aleppo province. The 'heavy tank fire' wounded four rebels and several villagers the YPG which Turkey accuses of being allied to the PKK said in a statement.
But Turkish officials denied the military was deliberately targeting Syrian Kurds and said it was responding to fire from the Syrian side of the border.
'Turkey has its rules of engagement. If there's fire from the Syrian side it will be retaliated in kind' a
Foreign Ministry offical said.
Meanwhile Davutoglu told a group of Turkish newspaper editors that Ankara's intervention would 'change the balance' in the region but ruled out sending ground troops into Syria.