“The Obama administration is weighing the opening of a new front in the air war against the Islamic State in Syria, part of an offensive to push back militants along the western part of Syria’s border with Turkey and create a relatively safe zone for U.S.-backed Syrian rebel forces to move in.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-weighs-a-new-front-to-create-safe-zone-in-syria/2014/12/01/1aae1bb0-796b-11e4-9a27-6fdbc612bff8_story.html
As noted by a colleague at McGill, this is what mission-creep sounds like. If Obama does adopt this new strategy, the logic will be partially military and partially coalition management. Turkey has been asking for a no-fly zone in Northern Syria for a while and this would be a step in that direction.
This article, along with “U.S. relies on Persian Gulf bases for airstrikes in Iraq” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-relies-on-persian-gulf-bases-for-airstrikes-in-iraq/2014/08/25/517dcde0-2c7a-11e4-9b98-848790384093_story.html) also provide some details about how the US has been carrying out airstrikes in the conflict.
IR Theory & Practice 