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Terrorist State of Turkey launches new airstrikes against Kurd in northern Iraq despite Baghdad opposition

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More than a dozen members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed when Turkish military aircraft carried out two separate aerial attacks against the militants’ positions in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

The Turkish General Staff announced in a statement on Saturday that six PKK terrorists were killed around Sinat-Haftan area, while eight others were targeted in the countryside around Adiyaman.

The statement came as the Baghdad government has frequently demanded an immediate end to Ankara’s airstrikes against Kurdish militant in northern Iraq, denouncing the assaults as unacceptable and a violation of its sovereignty.

Turkey has stepped up its attacks against PKK positions in northern Iraq and its Syrian affiliate, Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), in recent weeks.

Earlier this week, Turkish fighter jets bombed Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq, drawing rebukes from the US State Department and the Pentagon.

The Turkish military said the April 25 attacks centered on Mount Sinjar in Iraq and Mount Karakoc in Syria.

The strike in Syria reportedly hit the area, where the headquarters of the US-backed YPG forces are located, killing and wounding an unspecified number of fighters.

Turkish military forces have been conducting ground operations as well as airstrikes against PKK positions in Turkey’s troubled southeastern border region and Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region for nearly two years.

The campaign began following the July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, which claimed more than 30 civilian lives. Turkish officials held the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group responsible for the act of terror.

PKK militants, who accuse the Ankara government of supporting Daesh, launched a string of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish security forces after the bomb attack, in turn prompting the Turkish military operations.

Iran slams Turkey’s atrocities on sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq

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Turkey’s actions in Iraq are a violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of a country, and Tehran supports Baghdad on the matter, spokesperson for Iranian MFA Bahram Qassemi said.

On Tuesday Iraq said at least 70 members of Kurdish self-defense units and PKK were killed in an air strike by Turkey, RIA Novosti reported. The Iraqi authorities slammed the attack.

Turkish armed forces said they carried out an air operation against PKK in the north of Iraq killing six Kurdish rebels.

Terrorist State of Turkey plans military incursion into Iraq: Report

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Turkey is reportedly planning to launch a military incursion into northern Iraq in an alleged bid to target the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), viewed by Ankara as a terrorist organization.

Turkey’s pro-government Yeni Safak daily reported on Thursday that the campaign would begin in late April or May, after the April 16 referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.

Dubbed Tigris Shield, the mission would involve thousands of tanks, vehicles and artillery pieces used in Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria, which ended in March after seven months, the report added.

The report further accused the PKK of having built up nine camps in the northern Iraqi Sinjar district since 2014, when the group moved in to fight Daesh terrorists.

The new operation in Iraq is aimed at cutting off any contact between Sinjar and the Qandil Mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan to the north as well as preventing cooperation between the PKK in Iraq and Kurdish forces in Syria, the report added.

Earlier this week, Erdogan stressed that the Operation Euphrates Shield was only the “first stage” of what he called Turkey’s counter-terrorism battle.

He also warned that the next phases of the operation would be broader, and include the Iraqi areas of Sinjar and Tal Afar.

Since July 2015, Turkish air force has been carrying out operations against the PKK positions in the country’s troubled southeastern border region as well as in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria.

A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants following Turkish strikes against the group.

Turkey deployed its troops to Iraq in December 2015, claiming that it was part of a mission to train Iraqi Kurdish forces in the fight against Daesh. Some 500 Turkish forces are said to be present at the Bashiqa military camp on the outskirts of the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Baghdad has repeatedly asked Ankara to withdraw its forces from the region, describing Turkey’s military presence in Iraq as an infringement on its sovereignty.

Police, activists clash in Istanbul

Separately on Thursday, Turkish police clashed with activists protesting against the detention of senior staff of the Cumhuriyet newspaper.

Iraqi parliament bans hoisting of Kurdish flags in Kirkuk

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The Iraqi parliament has voted to ban the hoisting of Kurdish flags over government buildings in the northern city of Kirkuk.

The lawmakers on Saturday passed a bill to prohibit the hoisting of the flag of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in Kirkuk days after the the Kirkuk Provincial Council decided to raise the regional flag next to the Iraqi national flag in front of some buildings.

The controversial move was swiftly met with ire in Baghdad as Kirkuk is not part of the semi-autonomous region.

Turkey, Iraq’s northern neighbor which has its own issues with Kurds and is in the midst of a crackdown on Kurdish militants, also condemned the flag hoisting.

A day after the council gave the go-ahead, Ankara that the decision would not help Iraq’s future stability, especially at a time when Baghdad was seeking unity in the fight against Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

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“We don’t approve of the voting held by the regional administration,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with the state-run TRT Haber television news network in Ankara on Wednesday.

On March 28, Arabs and Turkmens residing in Kirkuk protested against the move, describing it as unconstitutional.

Kurds and other officials rejected the claim, saying the Iraqi constitution had not explicitly banned the flag hoisting. They also argued that the move was normal and that Kurdistan flags had already been hoisted in Turkish cities of Istanbul and Ankara. They also justified the move as a response to demands by the majority of Kurds living in the city.

The Saturday bill also banned the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from seeking any direct benefit from the sale of oil in Kirkuk, noting that the income from Kirkuk’s oil belonged to all Iraqis and that it should be equally distributed among the KRG and other Iraqi provinces.

Kurdish officials have been at odds with Baghdad over the share of oil income from Kirkuk as part of the crude produced in the area passes through the pipelines operated by the Kurds.

Kurdish members of the Iraqi parliament left the session in protest to the ratification of the bill.

Iraq Foreign Minister to Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir: End silence on Turkey incursion of Iraq

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Iraqi tribesmen hold national flags and posters bearing a portrait of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan crossed out during a protest against the continued presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq, in the southern city of Basra on October 16, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Iraq has asked Saudi Arabia to break its silence on the presence of Turkish troops on its soil as the kingdom’s hawkish foreign minister visits Baghdad to bring rocky relations out of a long freeze. 

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Ja’afari on Saturday received his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir. This is the first such visit by a chief diplomat from the kingdom since 2003.

Turkey sent around 2,000 troops into northern Iraq in December 2015, triggering a diplomatic crisis and prompting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to warn that Ankara risked triggering a regional war.

According to a statement issued by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, Ja’afari told Jubeir that Saudi Arabia must break its silence on the presence of Turkish troops in Iraq, the IRNA news agency reported from Baghdad.

“Ja’afari stressed the need for Riyadh’s efforts to encourage the Turks into leaving the Iraqi land, stating that despite Arab and international consensus on opposition to Turkish troops, they still remain in the Iraqi territory,” the report added.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia have tried to improve strained ties after relations were cut following ex-dictator Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait but the road to normalization has been rocky.

Thamer al-Sabhan became the first Saudi ambassador to Iraq in a quarter century in January 2016 but had to leave the same year after Baghdad demanded he be removed following his remarks about Hashed al-Sha’abi.

Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) forces have played a key role in the fight against Daesh. Ja’afari was one of the most vocal critics of Saudi Arabia at the time and issued several strongly-worded statements against the kingdom and Jubeir himself.

He conveyed to Jubeir both directly on the sidelines of a global conference on the anti-Daesh war last year and in a statement Iraq’s “annoyance” over what he called “unacceptable interference.”

On Saturday, Ja’afari told Jubeir that “Iraq’s policy is based on expanding relations with all countries of the world but it will not allow any meddling in its domestic affairs,” the Foreign Ministry statement said.

The foreign minister also said Iraq “does not meddle in the internal affairs of other countries and has no interest in getting involved” in the lines drawn between some regional countries, possibly referring to Saudi Arabia’s rivalry with Iran.

An Iraqi government official said on Saturday that there was an opportunity for Baghdad to bring Tehran and Riyadh together.

“The whole region is heading towards compromise and Saudi Arabia sees Iraq as an important player to have on its side,” he said. “Iraq’s neutrality could make it a ground for Iranian-Saudi rapprochement.”

The official stressed that despite intense pressure from the street to take a strong stand against Saudi Arabia, Abadi  had “never indulged in aggressive rhetoric against Saudi Arabia.”

Saudi Arabia is very unpopular among most Iraqis and often accused of providing direct support to Daesh terrorists who took over a third of the country in 2014.

Saudi Arabia nominally supports the fight against Daesh but Iraq and other partners have argued it needs to do more to help durably defeat Daesh and its ideology which has roots in the kingdom where Wahhabism is freely preached and promoted.

The kingdom has been accused of having both financially and ideologically contributed to the extremism and sectarianism, which has been taking its toll on its northern neighbor.

“Iraq’s power lies in unity and integrity among its nation and the Iraqi people have proven that they stand united against terrorism and for preserving their territorial integrity,” Ja’afari said on Saturday.

Bilateral ties

In August 2016, Riyadh withdrew Ambassador Sabhan, but instead of naming a new one, seconded Abdulaziz al-Shammari as chargé d’affaires at its diplomatic mission in the Iraqi capital.

Prime Minister Abadi also received Jubeir and his accompanying delegation, a statement from his office said. Both sides “discussed cooperation in various fields, including the fight against the Daesh gangs,” it said.

Abadi’s office also said, “Jubeir congratulated Iraq on the victories achieved against Daesh and pledged Saudi Arabia’s support to Iraq in fighting terrorism.”

Ja’afari and Jubeir, meanwhile, expressed interest in reparation and enhancement of the bilateral ties.

Ja’afari said his country sought “best” Saudi ties geared towards confrontation with common threats, normalization of trade relations, facilitation of Saudi trips by Iraqi nationals, and establishment of direct flights between the two capitals.

Jubeir insisted on the need for bilateral visits, and said there were many elements, promoting the betterment of bilateral ties.

He also claimed that Riyadh treated all Iraqi sects alike and was in favor of unity and calm in the violence-stricken country.

Source: presstv.com

Iraq: Meet the hero silver-haired sniper who has killed 321 ISIS fighters in desperate bid to rid Iraq of jihadis

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Iraqi PMU Sniper kills 321 ISIS fighters

Iraqi PMU Sniper kills 321 ISIS fighters

By Bradley Jolly

Abu Tahseen, 63, has slaughtered more than 300 ISIS thugs since 2015

A sniper has killed more than 300 ISIS militants in two years after volunteering to join the fight against jihad in his home country.

Abu Tahseen previously fought in five conflicts, including the Iran-Iraq War .

The silver-haired sniper now volunteers with Iraq ‘s Popular Mobilisation Units and has claimed the lives of 321 ISIS fighters since 2015, according to military.com.

The 63-year-old is so committed he even spends time off tracking down evil ISIS foes.

Incredible footage has emerged, in which Mr Tahseen talks about using his deadly skills to kill the enemy.

In the clip filmed last year, the pensioner appears to take out an enemy sniper in Iraq.

Gazing over the Makhoul Mountains in the north of the country, Mr Tahseen says: ‘You see this area? I guarantee to God no one would come up it.’

He continues: “I’m relaxed. My mind is relaxed.

“When I get my rotation I just want to get back here.

“Last time they gave me a month off and after 12 days I came back.”

Mr Tahseen has bullets longer than his fingers strapped to his belt in the video.

He says the powerful bullets push his targets ‘back one meter before putting him down’.

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/meet-hero-silver-haired-sniper-9914523?ptnr_rid=785807&icid=EM_Mirror_Nletter_DailyNews_News_smallteaser_Image_Story1

 

Iraqi jets strike Daesh positions in Syria: Premier Abadi

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Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says Iraqi fighter jets have pounded the positions of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in Syria.

“We are determined to chase terrorism that tries to kill our sons and citizens wherever it is found, so we gave orders to the air force command to strike Daesh positions in Hosaiba and Albu Kamal inside Syrian territory,” Abadi said in a statement on Friday.

The Iraqi premier added that the targets were connected with recent deadly explosions in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

“The heroes of the sky executed the operation and responded to the terrorists with amazing success,” Abadi said.

A security official, who asked not to be named, said it was the first time Iraqi warplanes had bombed Daesh targets in Syria.

A source close to the Syrian Foreign Ministry said the airstrike was conducted in “complete coordination” with the Damascus government.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said in a separate statement that the F16 fighter jets destroyed Daesh positions and headquarters in Hosaiba and Albu Kamal on Friday morning.

A top security official said the airstrike targeted the terrorists’ “headquarters used for making car bombs in Albu Kamal… after Iraqi intelligence received tips from their sources inside Syria.”

Iraqi forces are engaged in an operation to liberate Mosul, which is the last stronghold of Daesh in the Arab country.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh mounted an offensive in the country in June 2014.

Iraqi Security forces fire tear gas at 1,000s of protesters near Baghdad ‘Green Zone’

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Iraqi security sources have deployed tear gas in Baghdad’s Green Zone against thousands of supporters of influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Protests against corruption, which are also demanding changes in the Iraq’s current election laws, are taking place in the center of the Iraqi capital for the second consecutive day.

On Friday, people gathered in Tahrir Square holding up placards reading: “Peace! No to corrupt authorities.” Similar demonstration took place on Wednesday.

The area, which is also known as the International Zone of Baghdad, is home to the Iraqi parliament, government buildings, and many foreign embassies.

A local activist and journalist posted a photo of one of the alleged victims. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called on the participants in the rally to “abide by the law,” Reuters reported.

Last year, thousands of the cleric’s loyalists staged two major protests just outside the heavily fortified Green Zone. In April of 2016, crowds entered the parliamentary building in the Green Zone, prompting the authorities to declare a state of emergency in the Iraqi capital.

Al-Sadr became a prominent figure after his so-called Mahdi Army fought US troops during the 2003 invasion. The Iraqi army was dissolved in 2008 and replaced by the Peace Brigades.

Iraq welcomes return of foreign archaeological missions

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The Tell Khaiber archaeological site in Dhi Qar, Iraq, is seen in this image uploaded to Facebook on Feb. 17, 2016. (photo by Facebook/DiyarunaEN)

By Adnan Abu Zeed

Contributor,  Iraq Pulse

BAGHDAD — Under a new contract between the General Authority of Iraqi Antiquities and Britain, a British exploration mission to the historic Tell Khaiber site west of Nasiriyah arrived Jan. 16. Iraqis are hoping that excavations will resume at about 17,000 sites, 1,200 of which are found in the province of Dhi Qar in the south, mostly dating back to the era of the dawn of dynasties (2800 B.C.), the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian civilizations, and the Islamic era.
In Iraq’s south, there are about 623 of these sites in Babylon, 200 partly buried in Karbala province, and 200 discovered ancient sites in Najaf. It is thought that the completion of surveys could cause these numbers to double.

More scientific missions are being deployed across Iraq to excavate the rich land of Mesopotamia and discover the underground archaeological treasures.

In 2013, a team co-led by Stuart Campbell of Manchester University began conducting the first British-led archaeological excavation mission at Tell Khaiber near the ancient city of Ur southern Iraq since the 1980s. Tell Khaiber is about 375 kilometers (233 miles) south of Baghdad in Dhi Qar province.

Under the new contract, the first between the General Authority of Iraqi Antiquities and Britain since the 1980s, the exploration mission will receive protection and security services from the government and has committed to hand all findings to the government. Under the 1932 antiquities law, prospectors must deliver everything they find to the Iraqi National Museum.

The British have discovered a residential city, clay tablets, seals and graves in the ancient city of Ur and at the nearby Tell Khaiber site.

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities launched in 2015 a national campaign to protect Iraqi antiquities by documenting archaeological and ancient sites, while encouraging people to report any archaeological materials they may find near their homes. However, what impedes this campaign is the lack of appropriate security conditions, particularly in Islamic State (IS) controlled areas such as the northern city of Mosul and areas where IS still has a strong influence such as Ramadi. Also, the successive wars that have gripped Iraq since the beginning of the 1980s have prevented continuous and systematic exploration works for decades.

Layth Sahar, an activist in the field of protection of antiquities, told Al-Monitor, “The role of security and stability in the detection of many of Iraq’s antiquities that are buried in the sand will promote exploration investment opportunities.” He said, “This will significantly contribute to the world’s participation in bringing out the hidden antiquities to sunlight.”

He added, “Since 2003, the year in which the political system changed and the country opened up to the world at the cultural level, Iraq succeeded in attracting scientific missions of universities and prospectors from different countries, albeit insufficiently, as the large number of available archaeological sites requires further cooperation with foreign expertise.”

He said, “The excavations should not be postponed amid the continuing stealing of antiquities on the part of smugglers. Also, a large number of antiquities were lost and damaged due to environmental conditions such as rain.”

Rain that fell on ancient hills and other areas on April 5, 2016, washed away about 74 archaeological pieces located above ground and dating back to the Babylonian era in the ancient city of Babylon.

One example of how exploration works have been expanding in Iraq is the Italian mission that started excavating on April 14, 2016, in the center of Wasit province, in cooperation with the Wasit Inspectorate of Antiquities and Italy’s University of Turin.

And on Dec. 15, a UNESCO mission visited the Nimrod archaeological site in Ninevah province in northern Iraq to assess the extent of the damage there; the site was largely destroyed by IS after it took control of the region in June 2014.

Amer Abdul-Razzaq al-Zubaidi of the Dhi Qar Antiquities Inspectorate told Al-Monitor that there has been an increasing amount of archaeological activity. He said, “Iraq has already begun to attract foreign exploration missions to its territory, especially in the central and southern regions because of the stability of the security situation, people’s cooperation with the missions in those areas and the help of the antiquities departments of the provinces in question.”

He said there are several missions currently working in Dhi Qar province, namely, the Italian mission in ancient Tel Abu Tbeirah and Tel Zerghol, the British mission in Tell Khaiber, the US mission in the ancient city of Ur, the Slovak mission at the Uma site and the French mission in the city of Kerso.

He also said there are “missions that are about to sign work contracts [with Iraq], including the Italian mission in Erido, the German in Badtibira, the Italian in the Wasit province and the German in Warka in Al-Muthanna province, and there are hundreds of universities and museums waiting to sign contracts with the Iraqi side.”

Asked about the projects and the potential harnessed for the excavations, Ajyal Salman, chairwoman of the Tourism and Antiquities Committee in Dhi Qar, told Al-Monitor, “The parliament’s Finance Committee managed to obtain approvals for the allocation of 90 billion Iraqi dinars [$75.8 million] to develop archaeological areas.” She added, “The Dhi Qar province share will be larger because of the many archaeological sites it contains.”

Salman called on “archaeologists, prospectors and teachers to contribute to the detection of ancient civilization landmarks buried under the ground in Iraq for thousands of years.”

She also revealed “a promising plan of action for the development of archaeological areas, especially considering that Iraq attracted more than 6,000 tourists per month during 2016,” and that “Iraq’s civilization concerns all peoples of the world because it wrote the human history on earth.”

Iraq has a plan that goes beyond attracting foreign missions. It plans to establish Iraqi scientific groups that can carry out excavations aimed at rehabilitating archaeological sites through “national” efforts. These sites will be turned into investment projects that introduce the civilization of Iraq to the world and generate funds that contribute to enhance and develop exploration capabilities.

Adnan Abu Zeed
Contributor,  Iraq Pulse

Adnan Abu Zeed is an Iraqi author and journalist. He holds a degree in engineering technology from Iraq and a degree in media techniques from the Netherlands.

 

Some 350,000 children face siege-like conditions in western Mosul: Charity

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An Iraqi woman and her child, fleeing the Daesh-controlled Rashidiyah neighborhood, arrive at Arabi neighborhood north of Mosul on January 22, 2017 as a military operation against the extremists continues. (Photo by AFP)

An estimated 350,000 children are trapped in siege-like conditions and risk execution by the Daesh terrorist group in the western part of Mosul, an international non-governmental organization warns.

According to a report released by Save the Children on Monday, half of the 750,000 trapped civilians in west Mosul are children, who risk being killed by Daesh terrorists if they try to escape.

The London-based organization further urged Iraqi troops and the so-called US-led military coalition to take all necessary steps to minimize civilian casualties during the operation to liberate the western flank of Mosul, located some 400 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad.

“To a child it doesn’t matter where the bombs come from – it’s where they land that matters,” Save the Children’s Iraq Country Director, Maurizio Crivallero, said.

“The impact of explosive weapons in west Mosul is likely to be deadly and indiscriminate. We must ensure that every effort humanly possible is made to protect children and their families from harm,” he added.

Save the Children has described the situation in Mosul as “increasingly desperate,” noting that three quarters of a million civilians have no access to aid agencies and are running out of food, water and basic supplies.

Mahmoud, a medic living in a recaptured area of eastern Mosul, said his family in west Mosul did not have anything to eat or drink.

“No one is able to get the children anything, there’s no food or milk for babies – the markets are empty and the supplies they stockpiled have almost run out,” he said.

The Iraqi medic went on to say that there was a huge risk for families trying to flee.

“If Daesh see a family trying to escape, they kill them on the spot. I tried to get mine out and agreed with a smuggler to bring them here, but he opted out because he saw a family of nine killed in front of his eyes,” he said.

The report comes only a few days after the World Food Programme announced 50-percent cuts in monthly food rations distributed to 1.4 million Iraqis displaced in the wake of anti-Daesh military campaign.

The UN agency blamed delays in payments of funds from donor states for the measure.

Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, fell into the hands of Daesh terrorists in the summer of 2014.

Iraqi army soldiers, supported by pro-government Popular Mobilization Units – commonly known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi – and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, launched a joint operation on October 17, 2016 to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists.