ANKARA (Dispatches) – Turkey said Monday it has launched a new ground and air cross-border offensive against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq.
Turkish air forces first hit the PKK’s shelters, bunkers, caves, tunnels, ammunition depots and headquarters in the Metina, Zap and Avasin-Basyan regions in northern Iraq, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in a video statement.
While artillery units struck the targets, the commando troops and special forces, supported by helicopters and drones, entered the regions by infiltration from land, Akar said.
In a video posted on the ministry’s website, Akar said the offensive, dubbed “Operation Claw Lock”, focused on the regions of Metina, Zap, and Avashin-Basyan in northern Iraq.
According to the ministry, the offensive was aimed to “prevent terror attacks” and ensure border security following an assessment that the PKK was planning a large-scale assault.
Militants of the PKK regularly clash with Turkish forces in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey attached to northern Iraq.
In response, the Turkish military has occupied areas in northern Iraq, where it regularly conducts attacks against purported PKK positions without the Arab country’s consent.
Baghdad has repeatedly condemned Ankara’s ongoing military operations in northern Iraq, warning that Turkey intends to seize control of the strategic northwestern city of Mosul and annex it to its own territory.
Iraqi resistance groups have also time and again warned Turkey of the consequences of its incursions into their country.
Turkey has also violated Syria’s territorial integrity by deploying its military forces there with the professed aim of fighting PKK militants, drawing strong condemnations from the Damascus government.