Iraqi Army Kills 3 Terrorists in Diyala

A Turkish soldier patrols on a road near the Turkish-Iraqi border, on October 23, 2011. (Mustafa Ozer/AFP)
A Turkish soldier patrols on a road near the Turkish-Iraqi border, on October 23, 2011. (Mustafa Ozer/AFP)
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Iraqi Army Kills 3 Terrorists in Diyala

A Turkish soldier patrols on a road near the Turkish-Iraqi border, on October 23, 2011. (Mustafa Ozer/AFP)
A Turkish soldier patrols on a road near the Turkish-Iraqi border, on October 23, 2011. (Mustafa Ozer/AFP)

Three terrorists were killed in two airstrikes launched by Iraqi forces within the Diyala Operations Sector, the Iraqi Security Media Cell (SMC) said in a statement on Sunday.

“Iraqi F-16 fighter jets carried out two airstrikes killing three terrorists and injuring another, in addition to destroying a cave in the Zarlouk area in the Hamrin mountains,” the Cell said.

The operation was conducted thanks to accurate intelligence data received from the Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS), in coordination with the targeting cell in the Joint Operations Command.

"The security forces, with their various formations, are determined to continue their qualitative and preemptive operations against the remaining defeated terrorist elements in the mountains and deserts," SMC stressed.

Separately, a Turkish soldier was killed and another was injured on Saturday in a military operation against Kurdish fighters in the north of Iraq, Turkey’s defense ministry reported.

It brings to seven the number of Turkish troops killed in the region since Tuesday.

The Ministry said the incident happened when an explosive device went off while Turkish soldiers were passing near it.

Turkey is conducting several operations in Iraq and Syria against the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) that Ankara considers a terrorist organization.

In mid-April, Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock to target PKK hideouts in northern Iraq's Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions.

The operation was preceded by Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle, which were launched in 2020 to root out terrorists who hide in northern Iraq and plot cross-border attacks in Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently announced that his country was about to launch a new military operation against the PKK in northern Syria aimed at creating a 30- kilometer security zone along the border.



With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
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With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)

After weeks of Israeli bombardment left them with nowhere else to go, hundreds of Palestinians have ended up in a former Gaza prison built to hold murderers and thieves.

Yasmeen al-Dardasi said she and her family passed wounded people they were unable to help as they evacuated from a district in the southern city of Khan Younis towards its Central Correction and Rehabilitation Facility.

They spent a day under a tree before moving on to the former prison, where they now live in a prayer room. It offers protection from the blistering sun, but not much else.

Dardasi's husband has a damaged kidney and just one lung, but no mattress or blanket.

"We are not settled here either," said Dardasi, who like many Palestinians fears she will be uprooted once again.

Israel has said it goes out of its way to protect civilians in its war with the Palestinian group Hamas, which runs Gaza and led the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that sparked the latest conflict.

Palestinians, many of whom have been displaced several times, say nowhere is free of Israeli bombardment, which has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

An Israeli air strike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in the Al-Mawasi area on July 13, the territory's health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas' elusive military chief Mohammed Deif.

On Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said Israeli military strikes on areas in eastern Khan Younis had killed 14 people.

Entire neighborhoods have been flattened in one of the most densely populated places in the world, where poverty and unemployment have long been widespread.

According to the United Nations, nine in ten people across Gaza are now internally displaced.

Israeli soldiers told Saria Abu Mustafa and her family that they should flee for safety as tanks were on their way, she said. The family had no time to change so they left in their prayer clothes.

After sleeping outside on sandy ground, they too found refuge in the prison, among piles of rubble and gaping holes in buildings from the battles which were fought there. Inmates had been released long before Israel attacked.

"We didn't take anything with us. We came here on foot, with children walking with us," she said, adding that many of the women had five or six children with them and that water was hard to find.

She held her niece, who was born during the conflict, which has killed her father and brothers.

When Hamas-led gunmen burst into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7 they killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the air and ground offensive Israel launched in response, Palestinian health officials say.

Hana Al-Sayed Abu Mustafa arrived at the prison after being displaced six times.

If Egyptian, US and Qatari mediators fail to secure a ceasefire they have long said is close, she and other Palestinians may be on the move once again. "Where should we go? All the places that we go to are dangerous," she said.