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2 PKK Members Killed, 1 Injured in Turkish Attack in Sinjar

A member of the Iraqi security forces stands guard on the Iraqi side of Iraq-Syria border, January 27, 2022.REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily
A member of the Iraqi security forces stands guard on the Iraqi side of Iraq-Syria border, January 27, 2022.REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily
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2 PKK Members Killed, 1 Injured in Turkish Attack in Sinjar

A member of the Iraqi security forces stands guard on the Iraqi side of Iraq-Syria border, January 27, 2022.REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily
A member of the Iraqi security forces stands guard on the Iraqi side of Iraq-Syria border, January 27, 2022.REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily

Two members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed on Sunday and another was seriously injured in a Turkish attack on a car in Sinjar, west of Nineveh governorate in north Iraq.

The Counter-Terrorism Group in the Kurdistan Region reported that a Turkish drone targeted a car of PKK-linked elements, killing two militants and wounding another.

It said the attack took place in a mountainous area between the villages of Bara and Bahrava in the district of Sinjar.

Later, the Turkish Defense Ministry confirmed the killing of two PKK militants as part of operation claw-lock that Ankara launched in northern Iraq last April.

The statement said that northern Iraq and northern Syria will not be for terrorists and that the Turkish forces are determined to dry up terrorism at its source.

Türkiye launched the operation to target the PKK’s strongholds in Iraq's northern Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions, near the Turkish border.

Sinjar’s attack on Sunday comes two months after eight people were killed and 26 were injured by Turkish artillery fire on the hill village of Parakh in Zakho district.

In an unusually strong rebuke, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi warned Türkiye that Iraq reserves the "right to retaliate," calling the artillery fire a "flagrant violation" of sovereignty.

Turkish forces have perpetrated once more a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty," Kadhimi said on Twitter, condemning the harm caused to "the life and security of Iraqi citizens."

A Foreign Ministry statement signaled Ankara’s willingness to do anything to uncover the truth behind the incident.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) strongly condemned the deadly artillery shelling and said in a statement that civilians are once again suffering the indiscriminate effects of explosive weapons.

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Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
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Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)

Scores of US-backed Kurdish fighters left two neighborhoods in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo Friday as part of a deal with the central government in Damascus, which is expanding its authority in the country.

The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh, which had been under the control of Kurdish fighters in Aleppo over the past decade.

The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month between Syria’s interim government and the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast. The deal could eventually lead to the merger of the main US-backed force in Syria into the Syrian army.

The withdrawal of fighters from the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) came a day after dozens of prisoners from both sides were freed in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that government forces were deployed along the road that SDF fighters will use to move between Aleppo and areas east of the Euphrates River, where the Kurdish-led force controls nearly a quarter of Syria.

Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh had been under SDF control since 2015 and remained so even when forces of ousted President Bashar al-Assad captured Aleppo in late 2016. The two neighborhoods remained under SDF control when forces loyal to current interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa captured the city in November, and days later captured the capital, Damascus, removing Assad from power.

After being marginalized for decades under the rule of the Assad family rule, the deal signed last month promises Syria’s Kurds “constitutional rights,” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades.

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement.

Kurds made up 10% of the country’s prewar population of 23 million. Kurdish leaders say they don’t want full autonomy with their own government and parliament. They want decentralization and room to run their day-to day-affairs.