Private American intelligence agency and forecaster, Stratfor, has predicted a military move into northern Syria by Turkey for 2016. President Erdogan’s policy is to strengthen his popularity and that of the AKP, Turkey’s ruling party, by becoming increasingly more assertive in foreign policy, according to Stratfor. The information gathering, distributing and forecasting business also predicts a more widening rift developing between Russia and a resurgent Turkey. Sputnik reports: “This is the year when Turkey, nervous but more politically coherent than it was last year, will likely make a military move into northern Syria while trying to enlarge its footprint in northern Iraq,” the Texas-based think tank noted in its forecast for 2016. The intelligence company maintains that Washington will likely “facilitate” Ankara’s predicted “heavy air campaign” in Syrian provinces bordering Turkey. “Turkey will emphasize its intent to rely principally on Sunni Turkmen and Arab rebel proxies to clear and hold the Islamic State-infested territory, but Ankara will also have a contingency plan ready in case it needs to deploy ground forces,” the think tank noted. This seems to indicate that the AKP is not planning to put Turkish boots on the ground right away, but at the same time this scenario should not be completely ruled out. Ankara, according to Stratfor, “is already preparing for an operation west of the Euphrates River [...]