WSAHINGTON (Dispatches) – The US military is reportedly building a new permanent base in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region as part of attempts to perpetuate its occupation of the conflict-ridden Arab country indefinitely, regardless of all opposition from religious figures and people from all walks of life.
Iraq's Kurdish-language Rudaw television network reported that the base is being constructed in Kariz village of Zummar district, located 60 kilometers northwest of Mosul, stressing that 60 percent of the work has already been done.
The report added that 120 U.S. soldiers and 300 long-range artillery systems have also been stationed in the area.
Hassan Khalo Ali, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official, said the base is being built on an area of ??20 acres of land, local people can see helicopters continuously taking off and landing and entering the base is prohibited in every way to ordinary people.
The new U.S. base would mark the fifth of its kind in Iraq’s Kurdish region.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has underlined Turkey’s resolve to prevent any attempt by Kurdish fighters to establish a Kurdish state in northern Syria.
In a speech in Ankara, Erdogan described the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdish Democratic Party (PYD) as terror groups, noting, "We do not and will never allow a so-called state to be established by the PYD, YPG in northern Syria.”
"They want to establish a terror corridor in northern Syria reaching the Mediterranean," he noted.
Erdogan reaffirmed Turkey’s determination to continue to fight against PYD and YPG "wherever we find them.”
The Kurdish fighters control two "cantons" in Syria's northeast as well as the Afrin region to the west. Turkey says PYD and YPG are the affiliates of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is considered by Turkey, the US and EU as a terror group.
In August 2016, Turkey staged a cross-border operation in northern Syria, which Ankara said was aimed at purging the border zone of terrorists.
There have been speculations that Turkey may be planning to launch another operation against the YPG to push it out of the town of Afrin.
Erdogan’s remarks come amid Turkey’s opposition to a referendum on independence of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region scheduled to be held on September 25.
Last week, delegations from Iraq’s ruling coalition, the National Alliance, and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) met in Baghdad to discuss the possibility of cancelling or delaying the referendum.
The Kurdish delegation reportedly held talks with Prime Minister Abadi, President Fuad Masum and other Iraqi leaders as well as the ambassadors of the United States, Iran and Turkey in Baghdad.