Updated

Turkey's parliament is considering a motion that would give the government new powers to launch military operations in Syria and Iraq and allow foreign forces to make incursions from its territory.

Parliament previously approved operations into Iraq and Syria to attack Kurdish separatists or thwart threats from the Syrian regime but Thursday's motion expands those powers to address threats from the Islamic State militants who control large swaths of Iraq and Syria, in some places up to the Turkish border.

Turkey's government is still vague about how it will support the US-led coalition against the militants.

But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the creation of a buffer zone and a no-fly zone to secure Turkey's borders and stem the flow of refugees.