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Türkiye conducted an air operation against the PKK and its offshoot YPG in northern parts of Syria and Iraq, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.

The Claw-Sword Air Operation was conducted in northern Iraq and Syria, which are used as bases for attacks against Türkiye by terrorists, the ministry said in a statement.

It said the operation was carried out in line with the right of self-defense arising from Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

“Terror nests are being destroyed with direct hits,” it said in an earlier tweet as it shared the first images of the operation.

It announced the operation on Twitter with a photograph of a Turkish warplane taking off and said: “Time for reckoning! The scoundrels are being held accountable for the treacherous attacks!”

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At least 89 YPG/PKK terror targets were hit during air raids, the ministry said later in the day.

“With the Operation Claw-Sword, 89 terror targets, 81 targets in the first stage and eight others this morning, including shelters, bunkers, caves, tunnels, ammunition depots, and so-called headquarters and training camps belonging to terrorists, who threaten our country, nation and border security, were destroyed,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said Türkiye carried out a “successful operation” in the Qandil, Asos and Hakurk regions of northern Iraq and Arab Spring, Tal Rifaat, Jazira, and Derik regions of northern Syria.

“Among the terrorists neutralized in the air operation were the so-called leaders of the terrorist organization,” the ministry added.

It was carried out to eliminate the terrorist attacks against Turkish people and security forces from the northern areas of Iraq and Syria, and to ensure Türkiye’s border security, the ministry said.

“After the operation, in which mostly domestic and national ammunition was used, all of our aircraft returned safely to their bases,” it added.

Türkiye will continue the fight against terrorism for the security of the country and nation with determination until the last terrorist is eliminated, the ministry stressed.

Türkiye “successfully” destroyed terrorists’ hideouts during the new air operation in northern regions of Iraq and Syria, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar also said on Sunday.

“Terrorists’ shelters, bunkers, caves, tunnels and warehouses were successfully destroyed. We followed them closely. The so-called headquarters of the terrorist organization were also hit and destroyed,” Akar said in his address to the operations center from the capital Ankara.

“Only terrorists and hideouts belonging to them were targeted … The claw of our Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) was once again on top of the terrorists,” Akar said.

Türkiye will continue to call to account those who target the country’s security, he vowed.

“Our aim is to ensure the security of our 85 million citizens and our borders, and to respond to any treacherous attack on our country,” Akar stressed.

Vice President Fuat Oktay said the TSK called the terrorists to account. “We will continue to make traitors pay the price,” Oktay said on Twitter.

Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said Türkiye has the full sovereign right to determine and eliminate any terrorist threat wherever it may come from.

“Türkiye conducts its anti-terror operations in line with international law and will continue to do so with or without the support of its allies,” Kalın said on Twitter.

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Separately, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun reiterated that terrorists’ targets were “successfully” destroyed at the operation.

“We will continue to defeat the efforts of terrorism and its sponsors to destabilize Türkiye, and to destroy terrorism at its source,” Altun said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Presidency shared photos of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ordering the start of the air operation on his return from Indonesia where he visited to attend the G-20 summit.

The operation follows last Sunday’s terrorist attack on Istanbul’s crowded İstiklal Street that killed at least six and left 81 injured. The Turkish government said the attack was carried out by the PKK/YPG terrorist organization.

Recent terrorist attacks targeting Turkish cities are parts of an attempt to pull Türkiye back into the grip of global instability, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said Friday, adding that both terror attacks were carried out by terrorists that came from northern Syria’s Manbij.

The PKK is a designated terrorist organization in the U.S., Türkiye and the European Union and Washington’s support for its Syrian affiliate has been a major strain on bilateral relations with Ankara. The YPG has controlled much of northeastern Syria after the forces of Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad withdrew in 2012. The U.S. primarily partnered with YPG terrorists in northeastern Syria in its fight against the Daesh terrorist group. On the other hand, Türkiye strongly opposed the YPG’s presence in northern Syria.

Under the pretext of fighting Daesh, the U.S. has provided military training and given truckloads of military support to the YPG, despite its NATO ally’s security concerns. Underlining that one cannot support one terrorist group to defeat another, Türkiye conducted its counterterrorism operations, throughout which it has managed to remove a significant number of terrorists from the region.

Türkiye is ready to rid northern Syria’s Tal Rifaat and Manbij areas, near the Turkish border, of terrorist elements in a bid to eliminate the terror threat from the region, President Erdoğan said earlier this year.

“We are taking another step in establishing a 30-kilometer (18.64-mile) security zone along our southern border. We will clean up Tal Rifaat and Manbij,” he said adding that the planned military operations will gradually continue in other parts of northern Syria.

Erdoğan has said as the U.S. and Russia failed to live up to their commitments to provide such a safe zone in the border region. In October 2019, Russia expressed commitment to removing the terrorist group from Tal Rifaat and Manbij after reaching an agreement with Türkiye during Operation Peace Spring. Moscow also promised that the terrorists would be removed 30 kilometers from the border on the M4 road and in the area outside the Operation Peace Spring area. Likewise, then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence pledged to Türkiye that the YPG/PKK terrorist group would withdraw from the region of Operation Peace Spring.

Ankara has launched several cross-border operations into Syria since 2016 and controls some territories in the north with the goal of pushing away the YPG and establishing a 30-kilometer-deep safe zone. Since 2016, Türkiye has launched a trio of successful counterterrorism operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019).

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Also, the PKK terrorist group often hides out in northern Iraq, just across Türkiye’s southern border, to plot terrorist attacks in the country. The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq. Türkiye has long been stressing that it will not tolerate terrorist threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps were not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terrorist threats.

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