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Three Killed in Turkish Drone Attack on PKK Members in Northern Iraq

Turkish Army vehicles are driven away on a convoy at the Habur/Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Iraq, near Silopi, southeastern Türkiye, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. (AP)
Turkish Army vehicles are driven away on a convoy at the Habur/Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Iraq, near Silopi, southeastern Türkiye, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. (AP)
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Three Killed in Turkish Drone Attack on PKK Members in Northern Iraq

Turkish Army vehicles are driven away on a convoy at the Habur/Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Iraq, near Silopi, southeastern Türkiye, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. (AP)
Turkish Army vehicles are driven away on a convoy at the Habur/Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Iraq, near Silopi, southeastern Türkiye, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. (AP)

A Turkish drone strike on Friday killed three suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, three Kurdish security sources said, making it the fifth drone attack this week in northern Iraq against Kurdish militants.

The three people were in their vehicle driving on Penjwen Sulaymaniyah main road, which is heavily used by civilians, and about 30 km (18 miles) away from a popular tourist destination, when the drone struck them, the sources said.

Friday’s attack occurred a day after Türkiye announced that five of its soldiers were killed in clashes with the PKK in northern Iraq.

There has been a long-running Turkish campaign in Iraq and Syria against militants of the PKK and the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which are both regarded as terrorist groups by Ankara.

Türkiye regularly carries out air strikes in northern Iraq and has dozens of outposts on Iraqi territory but has stepped up its drone attacks in recent days, striking closer to urban areas and on main roads.

The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.

On Wednesday Turkish drone strikes killed two suspected PKK members also on another main road about 10 km (six miles) from Dukan mountain resort, another popular tourist destination.

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Damascus Arrests Drug Trafficker Linked to Maher al-Assad, Others Held Over Tadamon Massacre

Members of Syria's security forces. (Idlib Governorate)
Members of Syria's security forces. (Idlib Governorate)
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Damascus Arrests Drug Trafficker Linked to Maher al-Assad, Others Held Over Tadamon Massacre

Members of Syria's security forces. (Idlib Governorate)
Members of Syria's security forces. (Idlib Governorate)

Security forces in the Damascus countryside announced the arrest of Shadi Adel Mahfouz, describing him as one of the individuals involved in recent attacks on security forces in the coastal region.

Mahfouz was reportedly employed by the ousted regime’s Military Intelligence Branch 277 and was responsible for recruitment on behalf of Military Security.

Security forces also arrested two suspects linked to the 2013 massacre in the Tadamon district of Damascus: Kamel Sharif Abbas and Maher Hadeed.

Hadeed, a member of the National Defense Forces, is accused of committing additional war crimes against Syrian civilians. Authorities suspect a connection between Hadeed and Amjad Youssef, the primary suspect in the Tadamon massacre.

The arrests follow just over a month after Syrian security forces captured three individuals involved in the 2013 Tadamon massacre. One of the suspects confessed to killing more than 500 people in the Tadamon district at the start of the revolution against the former regime.

The massacre took place on Nasreen Street in Tadamon, near the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus.

It remained undiscovered for nearly nine years until footage surfaced in April 2022, published by the Guardian. The video revealed Syrian regime forces executing 41 civilians, including seven women and several children.

In related developments, local media sources reported the arrest of Mohannad Naaman, a close associate of Maher al-Assad and senior officers in the Fourth Division.

Naaman, originally from Harasta in the Damascus countryside, is accused of overseeing one of the major captagon pill production sites in both the Damascus countryside and along Syria’s coastal region, including a ship anchored off Syria’s shores.