Kurdistan Region Blames ‘Terrorist Group’ for Peshmerga Attack

Peshmerga forces during a celebration in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, in 2023 (AFP)
Peshmerga forces during a celebration in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, in 2023 (AFP)
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Kurdistan Region Blames ‘Terrorist Group’ for Peshmerga Attack

Peshmerga forces during a celebration in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, in 2023 (AFP)
Peshmerga forces during a celebration in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, in 2023 (AFP)

Five members of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces were wounded in two separate drone attacks targeting military positions in northern Iraq’s Duhok province, the Kurdistan Region Security Council said on Tuesday.

The council said the strikes occurred on Monday and Tuesday in the town of Amadiya, where surveillance posts were being set up. The attacks were carried out using drones, it added.

Kurdish intelligence sources suspect a splinter faction of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was behind the strikes, suggesting the group aimed to disrupt ongoing peace efforts in both Türkiye and Syria.

“These are terrorist attacks,” the Security Council said in a statement, vowing to take “all necessary measures” against groups that threaten the region’s security and stability.

The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, and the European Union, has been engaged in a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and maintains bases in northern Iraq.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council said Tuesday that the recent drone attacks on Peshmerga forces may have been intended to derail ongoing peace efforts among Kurdish groups across the region, as well as political developments within the Kurdistan Regional Government.

The council suggested the twin strikes in Duhok province were connected to peace negotiations between Türkiye and the PKK, as well as intra-Kurdish talks in northeast Syria, where Kurdish factions are seeking unity under what is known as the “Kurdish Unity Conference.”

It also linked the attacks to the final stages of forming the Kurdistan Region’s new government, warning that “certain groups and factions are working to obstruct peace and stability in the region.”

The comments came days after Syrian Kurdish factions held what was described as a “historic conference” in the northeastern city of Qamishli, calling for a decentralized democratic state.

The event brought together Kurdish delegations from Syria, Iraq, and Türkiye, and was attended by a US delegation.

Kurdish expert Kifah Mahmoud has suggested that factions within the PKK were likely behind the recent drone attacks on Peshmerga positions in northern Iraq.

Mahmoud told Asharq Al-Awsat that the attacks were linked to the ongoing peace initiatives in the region, both within Kurdish territories and at a broader geopolitical level.

“These developments are related to the peace processes, whether in the Kurdish regions or at the regional level,” Mahmoud said.

“We have positive negotiations between Türkiye and the PKK, as well as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) moving toward a peaceful stance with Türkiye. Most importantly, there’s a positive trajectory in relations between Baghdad and Erbil, along with ongoing regional negotiations between Washington and Tehran.”

Mahmoud believes that these efforts are not well-received by more hardline factions within the PKK. He pointed out that the PKK has long been divided into parallel wings operating under different names in various active regions, with some factions opposed to peace initiatives in Kurdish territories.

While some Kurdish officials have speculated that Türkiye may be indirectly involved in the attacks, Mahmoud dismissed this theory, instead attributing responsibility to the more radical PKK factions based in areas such as the Qandil Mountains and Sinjar, as well as near Amadiya.

He also rejected suggestions that the strikes were aimed at disrupting the formation of the Kurdistan Region’s new government, asserting that the main objective was to undermine the ongoing peace processes within Kurdish areas.



Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
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Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics

Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)
Syrian doctor Alaa M., accused of crimes against humanity, arrives for his judgment in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 16 June 2025. (EPA)

A Syrian doctor who had practiced in Germany was sentenced to life in prison by a German court on Monday for crimes against humanity and war crimes after he was found guilty of torturing dissidents in Syria.

The 40-year-old, identified only as Alaa M. in accordance with German privacy laws, was found guilty of killing two people and torturing another eight during his time working in Syria as a doctor at a military hospital and detention center in Homs in 2011 and 2012.

The court said his crimes were part of a systematic attack against people protesting against then-President Bashar al-Assad that precipitated the country's civil war.

Assad was toppled in December. His government denied it tortured prisoners.

Alaa M. arrived in Germany in 2015, after fleeing to Germany among a large influx of Syrian refugees, and became one of roughly 10,000 Syrian medics who helped ease acute staff shortages in the country's healthcare system.

He was arrested in June 2020, and was handed a life sentence without parole, the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt said in a statement.

The defendant had pleaded not guilty, saying he was the target of a conspiracy.

German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.

They have targeted several former Syrian officials in similar cases in recent years.

The plaintiffs were supported by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.

ECCHR lawyer Patrick Kroker called Monday's ruling "a further step towards a comprehensive reckoning with Assad's crimes".

Judges found that the doctor caused "considerable physical suffering" as a result of the torture inflicted on his victims, which included serious beatings, mistreating wounds and inflicting serious injury to the genitals of two prisoners, one of whom was a teenage boy.

Two patients died after he gave them lethal medication, the court statement said.

Monday's ruling can be appealed.