Iraq Condemns ‘Repeated Turkish Attacks’ after Kurdish Officers Killed

Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rashid speaks during a news conference as an ancient artifact brought back from Italy is displayed at the Peace Palace inside the Green Zone, in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 18, 2023. (AP)
Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rashid speaks during a news conference as an ancient artifact brought back from Italy is displayed at the Peace Palace inside the Green Zone, in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 18, 2023. (AP)
TT
20

Iraq Condemns ‘Repeated Turkish Attacks’ after Kurdish Officers Killed

Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rashid speaks during a news conference as an ancient artifact brought back from Italy is displayed at the Peace Palace inside the Green Zone, in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 18, 2023. (AP)
Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rashid speaks during a news conference as an ancient artifact brought back from Italy is displayed at the Peace Palace inside the Green Zone, in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 18, 2023. (AP)

Iraq's President Abdel Latif Rashid condemned on Tuesday "repeated Turkish attacks", a day after a drone strike on a northern airfield killed three Kurdish counterterrorism officers.

"The Turkish ambassador will be called in to receive a letter of protest addressed to the Turkish president", Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Rashid's office said in a statement.

"Mercy be on the martyrs of Iraq, the civilian and military heroes killed by repeated Turkish attacks."

Turkish authorities have not commented on Monday's strike which killed three members of the counterterrorism forces of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region and wounded three others at Arbat airfield, southeast of the city of Sulaymaniyah.

While such attacks against the Iraqi Kurdish security services are extremely rare, Ankara is leading a quickening campaign in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria, targeting Kurdish fighters.

A senior military official in Baghdad said that the drone which killed the counterterrorism officers had originated in Türkiye.

Around 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Monday, "the drone entered Iraqi airspace, crossing the border from Türkiye, and bombarded the Arbat airfield," which is mainly used by crop-spraying aircraft, said General Yehya Rassoul, spokesman of the federal armed forces commander in chief.

"This attack constitutes a violation of Iraq's sovereignty", he said, adding: "Iraq reserves the right to put a stop to these violations."

"These repeated attacks are incompatible with the principle of good neighborliness between states. They threaten to undermine Iraq's efforts to build positive and balanced political, economic and security relations with its neighbors," Rassoul said.

On Sunday, a Turkish drone strike killed a senior official and three fighters of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in the Sinjar Mountains of northwestern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdish authorities said.

Ankara and its Western allies classify the PKK as a "terrorist" organization.

The United Nations mission in Iraq condemned the attack on Arbat airfield.

"Attacks repeatedly violating Iraqi sovereignty must stop," it said. "Security concerns must be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy -- not strikes."

The Turkish army rarely comments on its strikes in Iraq but routinely conducts military operations against PKK rear-bases in autonomous Kurdistan as well as in Sinjar district.

The PKK has been waging a deadly insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades and the conflict has repeatedly spilt across the border into northern Iraq.

Türkiye operates dozens of military posts in northern Iraq initially established under an agreement struck in the eighties with the government of late longtime ruler Saddam Hussein.

In April, Baghdad accused Ankara of carrying out a "bombardment" near Sulaymaniyah airport while US soldiers and the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces -- a US-backed alliance dominated by the PKK's Syrian Kurdish ally, the People's Defense Units (YPG) -- were present.

That strike too drew condemnation from the office of President Rashid, who is himself a Kurd.



Israeli Strike South of Beirut Kills Commander in Jama'a Islamiya Group

A soldier of the Lebanese army stands next to the vehicle that was targeted by the Israeli army in Baaouerta. (X)
A soldier of the Lebanese army stands next to the vehicle that was targeted by the Israeli army in Baaouerta. (X)
TT
20

Israeli Strike South of Beirut Kills Commander in Jama'a Islamiya Group

A soldier of the Lebanese army stands next to the vehicle that was targeted by the Israeli army in Baaouerta. (X)
A soldier of the Lebanese army stands next to the vehicle that was targeted by the Israeli army in Baaouerta. (X)

An Israeli drone strike south of the Lebanese capital killed a top commander from the Jama'a Islamiya group, the group said in a statement on Tuesday.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The strike on Tuesday morning killed Hussein Atawi, a leading commander in the armed branch of Jama'a Islamiya known as the Fajr Forces, as he was driving from his home to his office in Beirut, the statement said.

The Fajr Forces fired rockets across Lebanon's southern border at Israel throughout the year-long war that ended last year in a ceasefire deal. Israeli airstrikes killed several of the group's members during the conflict.

Since the ceasefire, Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory, mostly targeting fighters from Lebanese armed group Hezbollah or its arms depots. Israeli troops also still occupy five hilltop positions in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon, Hezbollah and the Jama'a Islamiya have condemned the strikes and Israeli troop presence, calling them violations of the truce and of Lebanon's sovereignty. Israel says the fighters and weapons pose a threat to Israeli civilians.