ANKARA: Turkiye might conduct more cross-border operations into Iraq and Syria if needed following the deaths of nine Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq last week, a Turkish defense ministry official said on Thursday.
The nine were killed in clashes with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, prompting Ankara to conduct air strikes and other operations in northern Iraq and northern Syria.
“Under international law and self-defense, Turkiye has every right to conduct operations for its border security. Turkish Armed Forces has done and will do whatever needed where and when necessary,” the defense ministry official told reporters.
The clashes were in the Zap region of northern Iraq, when PKK militants attacked a security point set up by Turkish Armed Forces at an altitude of 1,740 meters, a Turkish defense ministry official said.
Turkiye has since 2019 conducted a series of cross-border operations in northern Iraq against the PKK dubbed “Claw.” The official said Zap was where the operation “Claw-Lock” is taking place, aimed at making the Turkish-Iraqi border completely safe.
On Jan. 12, PKK members conducted simultaneous attacks on several Turkish bases in northern Iraq in bad weather and poor visibility, and all but one of the attacks were prevented by Turkish soldiers, the official said.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.
The conflict was long fought mainly in rural areas of southeastern Turkiye but is now more focused on the mountains of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, where PKK militants are based.
“In our fight with terrorism, Syria and Iraq are inseparable. Syria is the main human resource of the terror organization, there’s a frequent transition between Syria and Iraq,” the official said.
Turkiye has also staged military incursions in Syria’s north against the YPG militia, which it regards as a wing of the PKK.
Turkiye could conduct new cross-border operations into Iraq and Syria, and it could also expand its operation zones, if it needs to, the official added.
Turkiye may conduct new operations in Iraq, Syria if needed, official says
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Turkiye may conduct new operations in Iraq, Syria if needed, official says
- The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984
UN rights chief Shocked by ‘unbearable’ Darfur atrocities
- Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Nearly three years of war have put the Sudanese people through “hell,” the UN’s rights chief said on Sunday, blasting the vast sums spent on advanced weaponry at the expense of humanitarian aid and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has left tens of thousands of people dead and around 11 million displaced.
Speaking in Port Sudan during his first wartime visit, UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said the population had endured “horror and hell,” calling it “despicable” that funds that “should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population” are instead spent on advanced weapons, particularly drones.
More than 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and two-thirds of Sudan’s population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
In addition to the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, Sudan is also facing “the increasing militarization of society by all parties to the conflict, including through the arming of civilians and recruitment and use of children,” Turk added.
He said he had heard testimony of “unbearable” atrocities from survivors of attacks in Darfur, and warned of similar crimes unfolding in the Kordofan region — the current epicenter of the fighting.
Testimony of these atrocities must be heard by “the commanders of this conflict and those who are arming, funding and profiting from this war,” he said.
Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur.
“We must ensure that the perpetrators of these horrific violations face justice regardless of the affiliation,” Turk said on Sunday, adding that repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute “war crimes.”
He called on both sides to “cease intolerable attacks against civilian objects that are indispensable to the civilian population, including markets, health facilities, schools and shelters.”
Turk again warned on Sunday that crimes similar to those seen in El-Fasher could recur in volatile Kordofan, where the RSF has advanced, besieging and attacking several key cities.
Hundreds of thousands face starvation across the region, where more than 65,000 people have been displaced since October, according to the latest UN figures.
