Turkish Warplanes Hit Kurdish Targets on Iraqi-Syrian Frontier
Last Updated: April 26, 2017 4:59 AM
Dorian Jones, Zana Omar
ISTANBUL / AL-HASAKAH, SYRIA —
Turkish warplanes on Tuesday targeted fighters from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK, as well as members of the YPG, a key Kurdish affiliate on the Iraqi-Syrian frontier, where Kurdish units play a key role in a loosely knit coalition battling Islamic State extremists.
Monitors from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Wednesday at least 28 people were killed in the strikes with around 20 others injured.
Turkey, the United States and the European Union have designated the PKK as a terrorist organization for its decades-long autonomy push against the Ankara government in Turkey's southeast. On Tuesday, the Turkish military defended the expanded airstrikes.
"To destroy these terror hubs, which threaten the security, unity and integrity of our country and our nation, and as part of our rights based on international law, airstrikes have been carried out," a short Turkish military statement read.
Sinjar Mountains
Witnesses said Turkey's target grid was expanded for the first time Tuesday to include the Sinjar Mountains, a territory in northern Iraq where another Kurdish militia with links to the PKK was also hit by the airstrikes. Turkey has described Sinjar as a Kurdish logistics hub where militants plan attacks inside Turkish territory.
"Turkey has launched many cross-border operations like this against the PKK in the [nearby] Qandil Mountains," said Semih Idiz, columnist for the Al Monitor website. "It has warned it will do the same against Sinjar, to prevent it falling to the PKK like Qandil. It is also a message to the domestic audience, saying Turkey's determination to fight the PKK continues just as before."
Communication complex
Kurdish fighters said the location was initially used to broadcast TV and radio programs to the Syrian Kurdish cities and some Yazidi areas on the Iraqi border. VOA footage taken hours after the airstrikes showed the complex in rubble.
Helicopters containing a contingent of U.S. military arrived at the site later Tuesday to assess the damage. U.S. commanders accompanied the YPG forces on a tour of the damage but refused to speak to reporters.
A YPG commander who requested anonymity told VOA that YPG leaders had come under a lot of pressure from Turkish airstrikes and told the Americans that they might not be able continue to fight IS in Raqqa if the U.S. was not going protect them and their families from future attacks.
As the U.S. contingent was preparing to leave the site, thousands of Kurdish protesters who were marching near the mountain approached them. They chanted slogans against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and demanded that the U.S.-led coalition act to halt the Turkish raids.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. expressed concern to the Turkish government about the airstrikes, saying they were conducted without proper coordination with the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State.
"We recognize their concerns about the PKK, but these kinds of actions, frankly, harm the coalition's efforts to go after ISIS, and frankly, harm our partners on the ground who are conducting that fight,” Toner said.
[
https://www.voanews.com/a/turkish-military-strikes-pkk-iraq-syria/3824426.html[QOUTE]