- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ |
Turkey strikes Kurd targets in Iraq, Syria
Turkey said Wednesday it launched deadly strikes against Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria, where Kurd forces have been left reeling from the largest Islamic State group attack in nearly three years.
The raids on Tuesday night targeted shelters, tunnels, caves, ammunition depots, bases and training camps operated by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the People's Protection Units (YPG) which Ankara views as terrorist groups, the Turkish defence ministry said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the Syria strikes hit a Kurdish-run power station near the town of Al-Malikiyah in Hasakeh province, where a brazen jailbreak attempt by IS jihadists last month sparked days of clashes that have left hundreds dead.
"At least four people were killed in the strike targeting a power station near Al-Malikiyah," the Britain-based Observatory said.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish administration's de facto army, said four of its fighters died in the attack and vowed vengeance against Turkey.
Later on Wednesday, shelling on the Turkish-held city of Al-Bab in northern Syria killed eight people, including five civilians, according to the Observatory.
The war monitor didn't specify who was responsible but Kurdish forces and Syrian regime troops are both deployed in the region.
In northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, Turkish strikes on Tuesday hit PKK positions in the Makhmur and Sinjar regions, where bombardment caused "human and material losses", Kurdish authorities said, without specifying a casualty toll.
As part of the attack, which drew condemnation from Baghdad, Turkish "military aircraft bombarded six PKK positions in the Karjokh mountains", which overlook a camp for Kurdish refugees from Turkey, Kurdish counter-terrorism services said in a statement.
A PKK-linked group that oversees management of the camp reported "the death of two combatants and dozens of injuries among camp residents".
In a statement, Iraqi security forces condemned the attack which they called a violation of Iraqi airspace.
It called on Ankara "to put an end to these violations," and said "Iraq is fully prepared to cooperate (with Ankara) to stabilise the situation on the border."
- 'Take action' -
Designated as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, the PKK has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
The YPG -- which forms the backbone of the SDF fighting IS in Syria -- is viewed by Ankara as the PKK's Syria offshoot.
Washington relied heavily on the SDF to defeat IS jihadists who overran large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014.
The SDF said 40 of its fighters as well as more than 70 prison guards and staff were killed in the week-long IS attack on Ghwayran jail, the group's largest Syria operation since 2019.
The YPG condemned the latest Turkish strikes.
"Turkey tries to continue what ISIS started," it said on Twitter, using a different acronym for IS.
"Everyone has to take action against this attack now."
The Turkish strike came hours after hundreds of mourners gathered in Al-Malikiyah for mass funerals honouring Kurdish fighters killed in a week of battles with IS jihadists who had attacked the Ghwayran jail on January 20.
Since the start of its military intervention in Syria in 2016, Ankara has sporadically bombed the YPG and carried out military operations on the ground targeting IS and Kurdish forces.
Turkey also routinely carries out attacks in Iraq, where the PKK has bases and training camps in the Sinjar region and on the mountainous border with Turkey.
In December, Turkey carried out retaliatory air strikes in northern Iraq after three Turkish soldiers died in a PKK attack.
F.Pavlenko--BTB