On Friday, three Turkish jets fired on Islamic State targets across the Syrian border, resulting in the deaths of 35 terrorists. Following the attack, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced that it “was not a point operation” but a process “not limited to one day or to one region …. The slightest movement threatening Turkey will be retaliated against in the strongest way possible.”

His rhetoric is the clearest sign to date that Turkey has changed its policy toward stemming the Islamic States’s march across the Middle East. But it is not the only sign.

On Wednesday, United States President Barack Obama called his Turkish counterpart. Following the call, discussion emerged that Turkey was now willing to allow the U.S. to use the Incirlik military base in Turkey from which to launch airstrikes against the terrorist group. This is something the U.S. has asked of its nato partner from day one, but, until now, Turkey has not allowed it. Instead, U.S. fighters have had to fly a 2,000-mile round trip from the Gulf States in order to bomb Syrian targets. Now, American jets can be above Syria within minutes.

On top of that, Friday saw a massive sweep by approximately 5,000 police officers across Turkey to round up suspected extremists. The coordinated police action resulted in almost 300 detentions. While some of those apprehended were designated as Kurdish extremists many were people with suspected Islamic State links. The crackdown is the clearest sign yet that Turkey will no longer tolerate European foreign nationals using its country as a staging ground for entering Syria and joining the Islamic State’s ranks, something many nations have accused Turkey of facilitating.

Why now? Why, after years of refusing to act against a group as monstrous and demoniacal as the Islamic State, has Turkey decided to enter the fray?

Monday’s massive terrorist attack on Turkish soil by Islamic State terrorists in which 32 youth were killed and hundreds wounded is largely being reported as the motivation behind the change of policy. While devastating, the attack likely provided only the tipping point for Turkey, which was already beginning to change its course.

There are likely two other reasons Turkey is now on a war path with the Islamic State. First, the successful military campaign Kurdish forces are waging against the Islamic State on the Syrian side of the Turkish border deeply worries Ankara. According to the World Fact Book, 18 percent of Turkey’s population of nearly 80 million is Kurdish, the majority of which are located in the southeastern provinces bordering Syria. The Kurds have long desired independence from the Turks, but consecutive Turkish governments have ignored their requests.

Ankara fears that if Kurdish forces inside Syria gain too much territory adjacent to its own border, legitimacy for a contiguous Kurdish state will increase, making it more difficult for Turkey to retain its sovereign territory. This is why there have been rumors for the past month that Turkey is intending to create a 20-mile wide buffer zone inside Syrian territory to keep Islamic State terrorists back from its border. While it would create a zone from which to further attack the Islamic State, this is also the territory where the Kurds have had the most gains. This potential buffer is but a cloak to protect against potential Kurdish statehood.

Second, Ankara is now acting against the Islamic State because it believes that Syrian strongman Bashar Assad is on his way out and thus wants to position itself to have a say in the government that will replace him. Until now, Turkey has refused to fight against Islamic State because it would only empower its greater nemesis—Syria. As Max Boot writing for Commentary relates, “The problem, from Turkey’s perspective, is that as a Sunni state it is not going to fight [the Islamic State] if that rebounds to the advantage of Assad.” Translation: Turkey now believes that Assad’s rule is in such a precarious position that it is willing to fight against the Islamic State. Turkey would likely not fight against the Islamic State if the end result was greater Assad entrenchment in Syria.

Turkey’s decision to go to war, even if it is limited at first, might indicate that it believes regime change is soon possible in Syria—resulting in a Syrian state that no longer answers to the Shiite mullahs in Iran.

This second reason for the recent Turkish moves highlight a shift the Trumpet has been watching for since the Syrian civil war began over four years ago. Regime change is coming in Syria, and Turkey’s actions this week are a good indicator of it. Both Turkey and Syria form part of a mysterious alliance recounted in Psalm 83 that counters Iranian hegemony in the Middle East. This alliance is a necessary precursor to the furthering of end-time events. To understand more about how Psalm 83 has pre-determined alliances in the Middle East, read “A Mysterious Prophecy” by Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry.