Turkey Invades Northern Iraq In Operation Against Kurdish Militants

[Swordsmyth]

Turkey has launched a cross-border operation into neighboring Iraq against Kurdish militants in a mountainous northern region of the country.
The Turkish defense ministry confirmed its military unleashed a barrage of artillery fire and air strikes on Monday afternoon before ground forces entered northern Iraq to “demolish the caves and shelters that are being used by terrorist groups and to eliminate terrorists” — a reference to the outlawed PKK.

“The operation, with the support of our attack helicopters, is continuing as planned,” the statement said further. While cross-border shelling has happened somewhat frequently in the past, Turkey has rarely sent ground troops.


urkish state media released video footage of its operation inside Iraq:

Turkey launches a counter-terrorism operation dubbed Pence, which means claw in Turkish, in northern Iraq https://t.co/zvnknaxOdk pic.twitter.com/IcB9xd5Vp5
— TRT World (@trtworld) May 28, 2019​

Not only has Turkey not been bashful about routinely violating the sovereignty of both Iraq and Syria ostensibly to "fight terrorists", it has often positively boasted about it and published video footage of the incursions.
Citing the defense ministry, Reuters reports the following of the ongoing, controversial operation:

It said the operation targeted Iraq’s Hakurk region, just across the border from Turkey’s southeastern tip, which also borders Iran. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group is based in northern Iraq, notably in the Qandil region to the south of Hakurk.
Video published by the ministry showed helicopters landing commandos on mountainous terrain. It also shared photos showing shells fired by howitzers and soldiers perched on ridges, surveying hillsides with their rifles.

​

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019...hern-iraq-operation-against-kurdish-militants

 

[Swordsmyth]

Turkey's Defence Ministry said on Saturday a total of 43 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had been "neutralized" as part of an operation Ankara launched in northern Iraq 13 days ago.The Turkish military launched what it dubbed "Operation Claw" in northern Iraq's Hakurk region on June 27 with artillery and air strikes followed by operations by commando brigades.
The PKK militant group is based in northern Iraq, notably in the Qandil region to the south of Hakurk. Ankara said the operation aimed to destroy shelters and caves used by the PKK and "neutralize" its members - a term it commonly uses to refer to deaths, but also to those wounded or captured.
"43 PKK terrorists have been neutralized as part of Operation Claw, which has continued successfully for 13 days in the Hakurk region of northern Iraq," the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
It said 53 mines and improvised explosive devices had been destroyed and 74 caves and shelters used by the PKK made unusable, adding that it had also seized weapons and ammunition belonging to the militants.
Defence Minister Hulusi Akar has said the operation would continue in the region until "the last terrorist is neutralized".

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/turkey-says-neutralized-43-kurdish-090326620.html

 

[Pauls' Revere]

A brief history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_uprisings_in_Iraq

The 1991 uprisings in Iraq were a series of popular rebellions in northern and southern Iraq in March and April 1991 in a ceasefire of the Persian Gulf War. The mostly uncoordinated insurgency, often referred to as the Sha'aban Intifada among Arabs and as the National Uprising among Kurds, was fueled by the perception that then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was responsible for systemic social repression and had become vulnerable to regime change. This perception of weakness was largely the result of the outcome of two prior wars: the Iran–Iraq War and the invasion of Kuwait, both of which occurred within a single decade and devastated the economy and population of Iraq.

Within the first two weeks, most of Iraq's cities and provinces fell to rebel forces. Participants of the uprising were a diverse mix of ethnic, religious and political affiliations, including military mutineers, Shia Arab Islamists, Kurdish nationalists, and far-left groups. Following initial victories, the revolution was held back from continued success by internal divisions as well as a lack of anticipated American support. Saddam's Sunni Arab-dominated Ba'ath Party regime managed to maintain control over the capital of Baghdad and soon largely suppressed the rebels in a brutal campaign conducted by loyalist forces spearheaded by the Iraqi Republican Guard.

During the brief, roughly one-month period of unrest, tens of thousands of people died and nearly two million people were displaced. After the conflict, the Iraqi government intensified a prior systematic forced relocation of Marsh Arabs and the draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes in the Tigris–Euphrates river system. The Persian Gulf War Coalition established Iraqi no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, and the Kurdish opposition established the Kurdish Autonomous Republic in what is now commonly referred to as Iraqi Kurdistan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurds_in_Iraq

1991–present
After the Gulf War and unsuccessful Kurdish uprising in 1991, Kurds fled back to the mountains to seek refuge from the Hussein regime.[9] The United States established a safe-haven and no fly zone initiative in Iraqi Kurdistan for the Kurds in order for them to develop an asylum away from the Hussein regime.[9] United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 in 1991 condemned and forbade "the repression of the Iraqi civilian population... in Kurdish populated areas."[9] After many bloody encounters, an uneasy balance of power was reached between the Iraqi forces and Kurdish troops, ultimately allowing Iraqi Kurdistan to function independently. The region continued to be ruled by the KDP and PUK and began to establish a stable economy and national identity. Iraqi Kurdistan built a socioeconomic infrastructure from scratch, completely independent from the centralized framework for the Baath regime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obCHSY0nVro