ISTANBUL: Turkiye staged new artillery strikes against Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq, the defense ministry and Iraqi sources said Saturday.
While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this month said operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq were coming to an end, a security source in northern Iraq said the latest overnight shelling was “intense.”
“In line with our right to self-defense... air operations were carried out against terrorist targets in northern Iraq, in the Gara, Qandil and Asos regions,” Turkiye’s defense ministry said in a statement.
The Turkish army named 25 targets including PKK “caves, bunkers, shelters, stores and installations.” Turkiye and most of its western allies consider the PKK to be a terrorist group. It has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984.
Kamran Othman, a member of the Community Peacemakers Teams (CPT) group working in Iraqi Kurdistan, said the attacks lasted about 45 minutes and there were no civilian victims of the shelling.
The Turkish army said it had “neutralized several terrorists.”
CPT says it has recorded more than 230 artillery shelling incidents since June 15, some of which have started fires on agricultural land and hit civilians.
Turkiye says it wants to establish a security zone in northern Iraq and Syria to prevent militant incursions.
Turkiye stages artillery strikes on Kurd fighters in Iraq
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Turkiye stages artillery strikes on Kurd fighters in Iraq
- The Turkish army named 25 targets including PKK “caves, bunkers, shelters, stores and installations”
Al-Sharaa sends condolences to Trump on loss of 3 Americans
DAMASCUS: Syria’s President Ahmad Al-Sharaa has extended his deepest condolences to US President Donald Trump following the tragic loss of American soldiers killed in the countryside of Homs on Saturday.
In a message addressed to Trump, Al-Sharaa said: “On behalf of the Syrian Arab Republic, I extend my sincere sympathy to the families of the fallen soldiers and to the American people.”
He said Syria unequivocally condemned the attack and reaffirmed its commitment to preserving stability and security in Syria and across the region.
The Interior Ministry said its units had carried out a “qualitative and decisive security operation” in the city of Palmyra following the terrorist attack carried out by a Daesh-affiliated operative.
In a statement, the ministry said the operation was conducted in full coordination with the General Intelligence Directorate and international coalition forces, and was based on precise intelligence information.
It said five suspects were arrested and immediately placed under investigation.
The ministry stressed that targeting state institutions “will not go unanswered,” adding that security agencies possessed full readiness and high capability to strike with an “iron fist” anyone who threatened Syria’s security and stability, and to pursue terrorist organizations wherever they were found.
