Two PKK-linked Fighters Killed In Iraq Strike Blamed On Türkiye

A member of the PKK carries an automatic rifle on a road in Iraq's Qandil Mountains in 2018. (AFP)
A member of the PKK carries an automatic rifle on a road in Iraq's Qandil Mountains in 2018. (AFP)
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Two PKK-linked Fighters Killed In Iraq Strike Blamed On Türkiye

A member of the PKK carries an automatic rifle on a road in Iraq's Qandil Mountains in 2018. (AFP)
A member of the PKK carries an automatic rifle on a road in Iraq's Qandil Mountains in 2018. (AFP)

A Turkish drone strike in northwestern Iraq killed two members of a group affiliated to Türkiye's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Thursday, said Kurdish authorities.

The fighters were members of the Sinjar Resistance Units, a group founded among the district's Yazidi community in response to a brutal occupation by the ISIS group nearly a decade ago.

There was no immediate word from the Turkish military, which has conducted deadly strikes against PKK targets in Iraq and neighbouring Syria but rarely comments on individual strikes, AFP reported.

"A Turkish army drone targeted a vehicle of the Sinjar Resistance Units in the region of Wardiya in southern Sinjar, killing an official and a fighter who was escorting him," the counterterrorism services of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region said in a statement.

Another fighter was injured.

Sinjar and its adjacent mountains are one of the heartlands of Iraq's Yazidi community.

The Sinjar Resistance Units were formed in 2014 with help from fellow Kurds of the PKK, which Ankara and its Western allies consider a "terrorist" organization.

Türkiye frequently carries out ground and air offensives on positions of the PKK -- which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state -- in northern Iraq.

It also has over the past 25 years operated several dozen military bases in northern Iraq in its war against the PKK.



Lebanon Joins Middle East Green Initiative

 Prime Minister Najib Mikati sits between Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan and Environment Minister Nasser Yassin during the announcement (Office of the Prime Minister)
 Prime Minister Najib Mikati sits between Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan and Environment Minister Nasser Yassin during the announcement (Office of the Prime Minister)
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Lebanon Joins Middle East Green Initiative

 Prime Minister Najib Mikati sits between Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan and Environment Minister Nasser Yassin during the announcement (Office of the Prime Minister)
 Prime Minister Najib Mikati sits between Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan and Environment Minister Nasser Yassin during the announcement (Office of the Prime Minister)

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister announced that the country has joined the Middle East Green Initiative, launched by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to mitigate the impact of climate change on the region.

“This is an essential step for Lebanon, especially since our southern villages and towns have been exposed to significant environmental and agricultural damage due to Israeli attacks, which requires cooperation with all of Lebanon's friends,” a statement released by the Lebanese Council of Ministers quoted Mikati as saying.

Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan welcomed Lebanon’s participation in the initiative, confirming that a high committee has been established to ensure the project’s sustainability and facilitate relevant cooperation.

He noted that the timing of the announcement “comes in light of the continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon, and this matter must be drawn to attention, especially since Israel is destroying very large areas, whether agricultural lands, fruit trees or forests.”

Environment Minister Nasser Yassin said that the Middle East Green Initiative has very important goals to plant 40 billion trees across the region and protect the Gulf and the Middle East from climate change, stop land degradation and desertification and find the means to adapt to future challenges.

The Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture estimates that more than 2.8 million square meters of forest and agricultural land were completely burned, while about 6.7 million square meters of agricultural and forest land were partially damaged as a result of Israel’s attacks and its use of internationally-banned incendiary munitions.