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US Criticism of Turkish Operations in Iraq Upsets Ankara

Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hami Aksoy holds a press conference at the ministry in Ankara, Turkey on August 02, 2019 [Fatih Aktaş/Anadolu Agency]
Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hami Aksoy holds a press conference at the ministry in Ankara, Turkey on August 02, 2019 [Fatih Aktaş/Anadolu Agency]
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US Criticism of Turkish Operations in Iraq Upsets Ankara

Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hami Aksoy holds a press conference at the ministry in Ankara, Turkey on August 02, 2019 [Fatih Aktaş/Anadolu Agency]
Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hami Aksoy holds a press conference at the ministry in Ankara, Turkey on August 02, 2019 [Fatih Aktaş/Anadolu Agency]

Ankara rejected on Sunday criticism by a US religious freedom commission of Turkey’s recent military operations in northern Iraq.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said it was "shameful" that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) had criticized Turkey's fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“It is disgraceful, to say the least, for this commission which pretends to defend religious freedom, to criticize our fight against terrorism and become an instrument in the black propaganda of PKK, a terrorist organization also designated by the US as such, by ignoring its atrocities in Iraq and its offshoots PYD/YPG in Syria against local populations including Kurds who do not embrace its divisive policies and terror methods,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Last week, USCIRF condemned Turkey’s latest round of air strikes and ground operations (“Operation Claw-Eagle” and “Operation Claw-Tiger”) near civilian areas in northern Iraq, calling on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to order an immediate end to these actions.

“Turkey’s operations in Iraq and northeastern Syria make it clear that regional ambitions—not domestic security—are driving its actions today, and it cannot be allowed to do so with impunity,” USCIRF Vice Chair Toney Perkins stated.

However, Aksoy accused the USCIRF of ignoring the actions of the PKK in Iraq and YPG/PKK in Syria against the region's people, including Kurds who did not embrace its separatist policy.

He said thousands of Yazidis were unable to return to their homes in Sinjar, northwestern Iran because of the PKK that lodged itself in the region under the pretext of fighting ISIS.

“It is unfortunate that so-called human rights defenders have been turning a deaf ear to these facts of the region,” the Turkish spokesperson said.

Turkish ambassador to Washington Serdar Kilic wrote on Twitter that USCIRF’s members “had turned a deaf ear when terrorist organizations killed hundreds of civilians in Syria. What a shameful approach.”

While Turkish forces went ahead with their attacks against PKK positions in the north of Iraq, the People's Defense Forces (HPG), a military wing of PKK, announced the killing of a large number of Turkish soldiers in two operations launched in northern Iraq's Haftanin region, 15km from the Turkish border, and in Sharnak, inside Turkey.

It added that two Cobra helicopters were hit during the operations.

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Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)

The Lebanese military said it has detained a group of people linked to firing rockets into Israel last month.

In a statement issued late Wednesday night, the army said it had detained several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks toward Israel in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group denied at the time it was behind the firing of rockets, The Associated Press reported.

The army said that a vehicle and other equipment used in the rockets attacks were confiscated and the detainees were referred to judicial authorities. The army said it had carried out raids in different parts of Lebanon to detain the suspects without giving further details.

On Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported that Gen. Rodolph Haikal briefed a weekly cabinet meeting about the security situation along the border and the ongoing implementation of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

Three security and one judicial official told The Associated Press that four Palestinians linked to the Hamas group are being questioned.

A Hamas official told the AP that several members of the group were detained in Lebanon recently and released shortly afterward adding that they were not involved in firing rockets into Israel. He said in one case authorities detained a Hamas member who was carrying an unlicensed pistol.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah started launching attacks on Israel a day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with the Palestinian militants’ attack on southern Israel. The war that left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused wide destruction ended in late November with a US-brokered ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire went into effect in late November, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes that left dozens of civilians and Hezbollah members dead.

On Tuesday, the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said that at least 71 civilians, including 14 women and nine children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect.