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)
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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 Troops Expand 'Security Zone' in Northern Gaza

A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising above destroyed buildings in the southern part of the Palestinian territory  on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising above destroyed buildings in the southern part of the Palestinian territory on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
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Israeli Troops Expand 'Security Zone' in Northern Gaza

A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising above destroyed buildings in the southern part of the Palestinian territory  on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising above destroyed buildings in the southern part of the Palestinian territory on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

Israeli troops moved into an area of northern Gaza to expand what they call a security zone around the edge of the enclave, the military said on Friday, days after the government announced plans to seize large areas with an operation in the south.

Soldiers carrying out the operation in Shejaia, a suburb east of Gaza City in the north, were letting civilians out via organized routes, the military said in a statement.

Israel issued evacuation warnings in the area on Thursday, and hundreds of residents streamed out, some carrying their belongings as they walked, others on donkey carts and bikes or in vans, reported Reuters.

Gaza health authorities said Israeli forces killed at least 27 people, including women and children, in an airstrike on a school building in Gaza City where displaced families were sheltering.

The military said the Dar Al-Arqam school building in Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza City had been used a command and control center by Hamas militants and accused the fighters of deliberately using civilian infrastructure as bases. Hamas denies that it operates among civilians.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing their homes in recent days in one of the biggest mass exoduses of the war, as Israeli forces have moved to expand the territory under their control.

On the southern edge of Gaza, Israeli troops have been consolidating around the ruins of the city of Rafah.

Israel has not fully explained its long-term aim for the areas it is now seizing as a security zone. Gaza residents say they believe the aim is to permanently depopulate swathes of land, including some of Gaza's last farmland and water infrastructure.

The military said it had killed numerous militants and dismantled infrastructure, including what it said was a Hamas command and control center.

Palestinians say Israel's ultimate aim is to displace Gaza's population permanently, in line with a plan announced by US President Donald Trump to turn the enclave into a waterfront resort under US control. Israel says it would encourage Palestinians who wish to leave voluntarily.

Israeli troops resumed their operation in Gaza on March 18, following a two-month truce. Ministers have said the operation will continue until 59 hostages still held in Gaza are returned. Hamas says it will free them only under a deal that brings a permanent end to the war.

The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel has reduced much of Gaza to ruins and killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health authorities.