Turkish forces are seen near Mount Barsaya, northeast of Afrin, Syria January 23, 2018. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Turkey acknowledged losing two soldiers in Iraq’s northern region within a week to attacks carried out by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
On November 30, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense said that Artillery Master Sergeant Nedim Korkmaz was killed during clashes with the PKK in the Operation Claw-Lock zone. Later on December 5, the ministry announced that Infantry Commando Major Mehmet Duman was killed in a roadside bomb attack in the same zone.
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- Click to see full-size image. Source: the Turkish Ministry of National Defense.
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- Click to see full-size image. Source: the Turkish Ministry of National Defense.
Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock in northern Iraq mid-April. The main goal of the large-scale operation is to neutralize the remaining cells of the PKK in the areas of Metina, Zap and Avashin Basyan in the Kurdistan region.
The two new casualties brought to 72 the number of Turkish troops killed in the northern Iraqi region since the beginning of Operation Claw-Lock.
Operation Claw-Lock inflicted heavy human and material losses n the PKK. However, attacks on Turkish forces in northern Iraq are still taking place on a regular basis.
On December 3 and 4, two rocket attacks targeted a large base of the Turkish military near the town of Zaylkan in Bashiqa district in the province of Nineveh.
It’s worth noting that Turkey escalated its strikes on Kurdish forces in Iraq and neighboring Syria late in November in the framework of a new operation codenamed Claw-Sword. The operation was launched in response to the November 13 Istanbul bombing. Ankara blamed the terrorist attack, which killed six and wounded more than 80 others, on the PKK and its Syrian affiliate, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units.
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The Turkish admin are going to be losing a lot more personnel. The admin should patch up what differences it has with Damascus. US/nato/isreali backing of terrorists will ensure this situation runs and runs to the detriment of both countries. Compared to the wants of the US regime, Turkey’s wants are not important. Syria is the target of the NWO and eventually so will Turkey. The US seems hell bent on helping the PKK carve out bits of Syria, Iraq, and Turkey, to call their own, obviously with a massive US base built on the ‘homeland’. The PKK idea of stealing land and calling it their own they must have picked up during talks from the isreali apartheid regime.