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Five Killed in Turkish Drone Strikes on PKK Members in Northern Iraq

10 April 2016, Hamburg: Participants in a demonstration by Kurds and left-wing groups wave the flag of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). (dpa)
10 April 2016, Hamburg: Participants in a demonstration by Kurds and left-wing groups wave the flag of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). (dpa)
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Five Killed in Turkish Drone Strikes on PKK Members in Northern Iraq

10 April 2016, Hamburg: Participants in a demonstration by Kurds and left-wing groups wave the flag of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). (dpa)
10 April 2016, Hamburg: Participants in a demonstration by Kurds and left-wing groups wave the flag of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). (dpa)

Turkish drone strikes killed five members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan's counter-terrorism service and security sources said on Sunday.

The first Turkish strike targeted a vehicle in a mountain area near Iraq's northern province Dohuk late on Saturday, killing three, including one person identified by the Iraqi Kurdistan's counter-terrorism service statement as a "senior PKK official", the statement added.

Another drone strike on Sunday targeted a vehicle, killing two fighters from the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), a militia affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), two security sources and a local official in the district of Sinjar told Reuters.

Türkiye regularly carries out airstrikes on PKK militants in northern Iraq and has dozens of outposts in the Iraqi territory.

The PKK launched an insurgency against Ankara in 1984 with the initial aim of creating an independent Kurdish state. It subsequently moderated its goals to seeking greater Kurdish rights and limited autonomy in southeast Türkiye.

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Russia Denies its Hmeimim Base in Syria Is Being Used to Supply Hezbollah with Weapons from Iran

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
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Russia Denies its Hmeimim Base in Syria Is Being Used to Supply Hezbollah with Weapons from Iran

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)

Russia has asked Israel to avoid launching aerial strikes as part of its war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah near one of Moscow’s bases in Syria, a top official said Wednesday.

Syrian state media in mid-October claimed that Israel had struck the port city of Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar Assad, who is supported by Russia and in turn backs Hezbollah.

Latakia, and in particular its airport, is close to the town of Hmeimim that hosts a Russian air base.

“Israel actually carried out an air strike in the immediate vicinity of Hmeimim,” Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy in the Near East, told the RIA Novosti press agency.

“Our military has of course notified Israeli authorities that such acts that put Russian military lives in danger over there are unacceptable,” he added.

“That is why we hope that this incident in October will not be repeated.”

Israel has carried out intensive bombing of Syria but rarely targets Latakia, to the northwest of Damascus.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of transporting weapons through Syria.

The two warring parties have been in open conflict since September after Israel’s year-long Gaza war with Hamas — a Hezbollah ally — escalated to a new front.

Lavrentiev said that Russia’s air base was not being used to supply Hezbollah with weapons.

Israel stepped up strikes on Syria at the same time as targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian government forces and groups supported by its arch-foe Iran, notably Hezbollah fighters that have been deployed to assist Assad’s regime.

Israel rarely comments on its strikes but has said it will not allow Iran to extend its presence to Syria.