The death of a young YouTube star at the hands of her father has sparked outrage in Iraq, where so-called “honour killings” continue to take place.
Tiba al-Ali, 22, was killed by her father on January 31 in the southern province of Diwaniya, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said on Twitter on Friday.
Police had attempted to mediate between al-Ali – who lived in Turkey and was visiting Iraq – and her relatives to “resolve the family dispute in a definitive manner”, Maan said.
Unverified recordings of conversations between al-Ali and her father appeared to indicate that he was unhappy about her decision to live alone in Turkey.
Maan said that after the police’s initial encounter with the family “we were surprised the next day … with the news of her killing at the hands of her father, as he admitted in his initial confessions”.
He did not give further details on the nature of the dispute.
Al-Ali had gained a following on YouTube, where she posted videos of her daily life and in which her fiance often appeared.
A police source speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, meanwhile confirmed that the “family dispute” dated back to 2015.
Al-Ali had travelled to Turkey with her family in 2017, but upon their return, she refused to join them, choosing instead to stay in Turkey where she has since lived, the police source said.
Translation: There is no ‘honour’ in so-called honour killings..whoever justifies the actions of the criminal that killed Tiba is a criminal himself … and whoever dishonours Tiba’s life is a person without honour.
لا شرف فيما يسمى جرائم الشرف .. الي يبرر للمج.رم الي قtل طيبه فا هو مج.رم و اسوا من المج.رم و الي يط..عن بشرف طيبه هذا بلا شرف هي الان عند رحمه الله الله يرحم طيبه و يغفر لها شهيده باذن الله وَمَن يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَآؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خلدا فيها #حق_طيبهpic.twitter.com/g6Why64m0B
To date, no law in Iraq criminalises domestic violence.
A draft domestic violence law was first introduced to parliament in 2014, but progress has stalled amid widespread political opposition from legislators who believe it would erode Iraq’s social fabric.
Al-Ali’s death has sparked uproar among Iraqis on social media, who have called for protests in the capital, Baghdad, on Sunday to demand justice in response to her death.
“Women in our societies are hostage to backward customs due to the absence of legal deterrents and government measures – which currently are not commensurate with the size of domestic violence crimes,” wrote veteran politician Ala Talabani on Twitter.
Rights activist Hanaa Edwar told AFP that, according to voice recordings attributed to the young woman, “she left her family … because she was sexually assaulted by her brother”.
Until the Iraqi authorities adopt robust legislation to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, we will inevitably continue to witness horrific murders such as that suffered by Tiba Ali, apparently at the hands of her own father.
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights also reported the allegation. AFP could not independently verify the authenticity of the voice recordings.
Amnesty International condemned the “horrific” killing, saying “the Iraqi penal code still treats leniently so called ‘honor crimes’ comprising violent acts such as assault and even murder”.
“Until the Iraqi authorities adopt robust legislation to protect women and girls … we will inevitably continue to witness horrific murders,” Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Aya Majzoub, said
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!”
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).
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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Carlo Ancelotti’s team successfully added to their four cups from 2014 to 2018, and their triumph meant European teams have won the past 10 editions of the tournament.
24-year-old man, Mustafa Mousab Alowemer, has been sentenced to 208 months (17 years and 3 months) imprisonment for plotting with an international terrorist organisation, Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to bomb a Nigerian church in Pittsburgh, United States.
The US Department of Justice, in a statement signed by Assistant Attorney-General Matthew G. Olsen of DOJ National Security Division on Wednesday said Alowemer’s jail term would be followed by a lifetime of supervised release.
Alowemer pleaded guilty in the Western District of Pennsylvania on September 16, 2021, to one count of attempting to offer material support to ISIS in connection with his plan to attack the said church.
The statement read, “Alowemer admitted to planning a deadly bombing of a Pittsburgh church in the name of ISIS,” said Olsen. “The National Security Division was created to protect the nation from terrorist threats and we remain vigilant against those who would plot violent attacks on US soil in furtherance of an extreme ideology.”
“The defendant’s plan to bomb a Pittsburgh church and risk death or injury to residents in the area in the name of ISIS was thwarted by the extraordinary work of the Pittsburgh Joint Terrorism Task Force,” said US Attorney Cindy K. Chung for the Western District of Pennsylvania. “Our office will continue to hold accountable individuals who threaten the safety of our communities.”
“I want to commend the great work of our Joint Terrorism Task Force, and that of their partners and sources, in successfully thwarting a planned terrorist attack in the name of ISIS,” said Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division.
“Alowemer’s plan to conduct an attack at a church in Pittsburgh and inspire other ISIS supporters in the United States was unsuccessful thanks to the efforts of law enforcement officials at both the federal and state level. This sentencing demonstrates the commitment we share with our partners to pursuing justice against those who violate our laws and seek to harm innocents in our communities.”
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According to court documents, Alowemer plotted to bomb a church located on the north side of Pittsburgh using an explosive device. His stated motivation to conduct such an attack was to support the cause of ISIS and to inspire other ISIS supporters in the United States to join together and commit similar acts in the name of ISIS.
Alowemer also targeted the church, which he described as a “Nigerian Christian” church, to “take revenge for our [ISIS] brothers in Nigeria.” Alowemer was aware that numerous people in the proximity of the church could be killed by the explosion.
In furtherance of the plot to bomb the church, in May 2019, Alowemer dispersed several instructional documents related to the construction and use of explosives and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to an individual Alowemer believed to be a fellow ISIS supporter, but who was in fact an FBI employee
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This was disclosed by the Police Public Relations Officer, Bauchi State Command, Ahmed Wakil, a Superintendent of Police, in a terse Whatsapp message on Sunday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned against the legitimization of anti-Islam sentiment, which has been restricting the freedom of worship and other freedoms for Muslims in different places across the world.
Speaking at an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Istanbul, Erdoğan said attacks targeting Muslim communities have also been on the rise.
The issue of Islamophobia has become a growing threat across Europe, as several countries enact policies institutionalizing it, according to the European Islamophobia Report 2021.
It said countries such as the United Kingdom and France became “the main spots of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobic incidents.”
Erdoğan has been a vocal critic of the rise of Islamophobia amid Western silence and inaction in the face of the growing problem, which affects millions of Muslims.
He also called on Muslim countries to enhance cooperation amid ongoing problems.
“We cannot overcome attacks against the Muslim world without increasing cooperation on all fronts, from Kashmir to Palestine, from Western Thrace to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC),” he said.
The president also criticized the West for its hypocrisy regarding the Daesh terrorist group, saying that French cement giant Lafarge’s support for terrorism has been proven in the courts.
“Even though we are the only country that was involved in close combat and won a victory against Daesh, we are subjected to dirty accusations claiming otherwise,” he said.
French cement giant Lafarge will pay more than three-quarters of a billion dollars after pleading guilty to U.S. charges of providing material support to two designated terrorist groups including Daesh in Iraq and Syria.
Lafarge paid the terrorist groups from 2013 through 2014 for protection and to allow the continued operation of a cement plant in northern Syria run by Lafarge’s local subsidiary, Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS). In total, nearly $6 million was sent to the two groups, according to prosecutors.
The payments allowed the company’s employees to pass through checkpoints surrounding the Jalabiya cement plant and the company “eventually agreed” to pay Daesh based on the volume of cement it sold, which executives likened to paying “taxes,” according to the U.S. Justice Department.
One person is missing while seven others were rescued after a Turkish military helicopter crashed in northern Iraq, Ministry of National Defense said early on Monday. The ministry said eight personnel were aboard when the Sikorsky helicopter made a hard landing and a search operation was underway for one personnel.
During the incident stemming from “technical reasons,” the helicopter was on a supply mission as part of the Operation Claw-Lock, the statement added.
Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Lock in April to target the terrorist group PKK’s hideouts in Iraq’s northern Metina, Zap, and Avasin-Basyan regions, near the Turkish border.It was initiated after Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle to root out terrorists hiding in northern Iraq and plotting cross-border attacks in Türkiye.
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The violence threatened to deepen the political crisis, though streets elsewhere in the country largely remained calm and the country’s vital oil continued to flow. Neighboring Iran closed off its borders to Iraq and urged its citizens to avoid traveling there, a senior official said, a sign of Tehran’s concern that the chaos could spread.
Iran’s state television said flights had also been halted “until further notice because of the unrest there.”
Millions of Iranians travel to the Iraqi city of Karbala every year for the ritual of Arbaeen, which marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Imam Hussein. Arbaeen falls on Sept. 16-17 this year.
“The border with Iraq has been closed. Due to safety concerns, it is necessary for Iranians to refrain from travelling to Iraq until further notice,” state TV quoted Iran’s deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi as saying.
Live television footage showed supporters of al-Sadr firing both heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades into the heavily fortified Green Zone through a section of pulled-down concrete walls. Bystanders, seemingly oblivious to the danger, filmed the gunfight with their mobile phones.
As al-Sadr’s forces fired, a line of armored tanks stood on the other side of the barriers that surround the Green Zone. Heavy black smoke at one point rose over the area, visible from kilometers (miles) away.
At least one wounded man was taken away in a three-wheel rickshaw, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry visible in the background.
At least 30 people have been killed and over 400 wounded, two Iraqi medical officials said. The toll included both al-Sadr loyalists killed in protests the day before and clashes overnight. Those figures are expected to rise, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information to journalists.
Members of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim sect were oppressed when Saddam Hussein ruled the country, but the U.S.-led invasion reversed the political order. Now the Shiites are fighting among themselves, with Iranian-backed Shiites and Iraqi nationalist Shiites jockeying for power, influence and state resources.
Al-Sadr’s nationalist rhetoric and reform agenda resonates powerfully with his supporters, who largely hail from Iraq’s poorest sectors of society and were historically been shut out from the political system under Saddam.
His announcement that he is leaving politics has implicitly given his supporters the freedom to act as they see fit.
Iranian state television cited unrest and a military-imposed curfew in Iraqi cities for the reason for the border closures. It urged Iranians to avoid any travel to the neighboring country. The decision came as millions were preparing to visit Iraq for an annual pilgrimage to Shiite sites, and Tehran encouraged any Iranian pilgrims already in Iraq to avoid further travel between cities.
Kuwait, meanwhile, called on its citizens to leave Iraq. The state-run KUNA news agency also encouraged those hoping to travel to Iraq to delay their plans.
The tiny Gulf Arab sheikhdom of Kuwait shares a 254-kilometer- (158-mile-) long border with Iraq.
The Netherlands evacuated its embassy in the Green Zone, Foreign Affairs Minister Wopke Hoekstra tweeted early Tuesday.
“There are firefights around the embassy in Baghdad. Our staff are now working at the German embassy elsewhere in the city,” Hoekstra wrote.
Dubai’s long-haul carrier Emirates stopped flights to Baghdad on Tuesday over the ongoing unrest. The carrier said that it was “monitoring the situation closely.” It did not say when flights would resume.
On Monday, protesters loyal to al-Sadr pulled down the cement barriers outside the government palace with ropes and breached the palace gates. Many rushed into the lavish salons and marbled halls of the palace, a key meeting place for Iraqi heads of state and foreign dignitaries.
Iraq’s military announced a nationwide curfew, and the caretaker premier suspended Cabinet sessions in response to the violence.
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The violence threatened to deepen the political crisis, though streets elsewhere in the country largely remained calm and the country’s vital oil continued to flow. Neighboring Iran closed off its borders to Iraq and urged its citizens to avoid traveling there, a senior official said, a sign of Tehran’s concern that the chaos could spread.
Iran’s state television said flights had also been halted “until further notice because of the unrest there.”
Millions of Iranians travel to the Iraqi city of Karbala every year for the ritual of Arbaeen, which marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Imam Hussein. Arbaeen falls on Sept. 16-17 this year.
“The border with Iraq has been closed. Due to safety concerns, it is necessary for Iranians to refrain from travelling to Iraq until further notice,” state TV quoted Iran’s deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi as saying.
Live television footage showed supporters of al-Sadr firing both heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades into the heavily fortified Green Zone through a section of pulled-down concrete walls. Bystanders, seemingly oblivious to the danger, filmed the gunfight with their mobile phones.
As al-Sadr’s forces fired, a line of armored tanks stood on the other side of the barriers that surround the Green Zone. Heavy black smoke at one point rose over the area, visible from kilometers (miles) away.
At least one wounded man was taken away in a three-wheel rickshaw, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry visible in the background.
At least 30 people have been killed and over 400 wounded, two Iraqi medical officials said. The toll included both al-Sadr loyalists killed in protests the day before and clashes overnight. Those figures are expected to rise, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information to journalists.
Members of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim sect were oppressed when Saddam Hussein ruled the country, but the U.S.-led invasion reversed the political order. Now the Shiites are fighting among themselves, with Iranian-backed Shiites and Iraqi nationalist Shiites jockeying for power, influence and state resources.
Al-Sadr’s nationalist rhetoric and reform agenda resonates powerfully with his supporters, who largely hail from Iraq’s poorest sectors of society and were historically been shut out from the political system under Saddam.
His announcement that he is leaving politics has implicitly given his supporters the freedom to act as they see fit.
Iranian state television cited unrest and a military-imposed curfew in Iraqi cities for the reason for the border closures. It urged Iranians to avoid any travel to the neighboring country. The decision came as millions were preparing to visit Iraq for an annual pilgrimage to Shiite sites, and Tehran encouraged any Iranian pilgrims already in Iraq to avoid further travel between cities.
Kuwait, meanwhile, called on its citizens to leave Iraq. The state-run KUNA news agency also encouraged those hoping to travel to Iraq to delay their plans.
The tiny Gulf Arab sheikhdom of Kuwait shares a 254-kilometer- (158-mile-) long border with Iraq.
The Netherlands evacuated its embassy in the Green Zone, Foreign Affairs Minister Wopke Hoekstra tweeted early Tuesday.
“There are firefights around the embassy in Baghdad. Our staff are now working at the German embassy elsewhere in the city,” Hoekstra wrote.
Dubai’s long-haul carrier Emirates stopped flights to Baghdad on Tuesday over the ongoing unrest. The carrier said that it was “monitoring the situation closely.” It did not say when flights would resume.
On Monday, protesters loyal to al-Sadr pulled down the cement barriers outside the government palace with ropes and breached the palace gates. Many rushed into the lavish salons and marbled halls of the palace, a key meeting place for Iraqi heads of state and foreign dignitaries.
Iraq’s military announced a nationwide curfew, and the caretaker premier suspended Cabinet sessions in response to the violence.
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Iraq’s powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers to end their protests in central Baghdad on Tuesday and apologized to Iraqis after deadly clashes between rival Shiite Muslim groups.
“This is not a revolution because it has lost its peaceful character,” Sadr said. “The spilling of Iraqi blood is forbidden.”
In a televised address delivered at 1 p.m. (10 a.m. GMT), Sadr set a one-hour deadline for his supporters to leave their protests in the fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad, where they have occupied parliament for weeks.
“Within 60 minutes, if the Sadrist Movement does not withdraw, including from the sit-in at parliament, then even I will leave the movement,” Sadr said.
His address came a day after the worst violence in the Iraqi capital in years – which follows a 10-month political deadlock since October’s parliamentary election – prompted neighboring Iran to close its border and halt flights to Iraq.
Supporters of al-Sadr fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns into Iraq’s Green Zone as security forces returned fire earlier Tuesday, seriously escalating a monthslong political crisis gripping the nation.
Baghdad’s streets were mostly empty on Tuesday. Gunmen cruised in pickup trucks carrying machine guns and brandishing grenade launchers, but residents observed a curfew. Overnight, sustained gun and rocket fire rang out across the city.
The death toll rose to at least 30 people after two days of unrest, officials said.
Monday’s violence was prompted by al-Sadr’s announcement that he would withdraw from all political activity – a decision he said was in response to the failure of other Shiite leaders and parties to reform a corrupt and decaying governing system.
Those backing cleric al-Sadr earlier stormed the Green Zone, once the stronghold of the United States military that’s now home to Iraqi government offices and foreign embassies. At least one country evacuated its diplomatic personnel amid the chaos.
Iraq’s government has been deadlocked since al-Sadr’s party won the largest share of seats in October parliamentary elections but not enough to secure a majority government – unleashing months of infighting between different Shiite factions. Al-Sadr refused to negotiate with his Iran-backed Shiite rivals, and his withdrawal Monday has catapulted Iraq into political uncertainty and volatility with no clear path out.
Iran closes border The violence threatened to deepen the political crisis, though streets elsewhere in the country largely remained calm and the country’s vital oil continued to flow. Neighboring Iran closed off its borders to Iraq and urged its citizens to avoid traveling there, a senior official said, a sign of Tehran’s concern that the chaos could spread.
Iran’s state television said flights had also been halted “until further notice because of the unrest there.”
Millions of Iranians travel to the Iraqi city of Karbala every year for the ritual of Arbaeen, which marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Imam Hussein. Arbaeen falls on Sept. 16-17 this year.
“The border with Iraq has been closed. Due to safety concerns, it is necessary for Iranians to refrain from travelling to Iraq until further notice,” state TV quoted Iran’s deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi as saying.
Live television footage showed supporters of al-Sadr firing both heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades into the heavily fortified Green Zone through a section of pulled-down concrete walls. Bystanders, seemingly oblivious to the danger, filmed the gunfight with their mobile phones.
As al-Sadr’s forces fired, a line of armored tanks stood on the other side of the barriers that surround the Green Zone. Heavy black smoke at one point rose over the area, visible from kilometers (miles) away.
At least one wounded man was taken away in a three-wheel rickshaw, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry visible in the background.
At least 30 people have been killed and over 400 wounded, two Iraqi medical officials said. The toll included both al-Sadr loyalists killed in protests the day before and clashes overnight. Those figures are expected to rise, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information to journalists.
Members of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim sect were oppressed when Saddam Hussein ruled the country, but the U.S.-led invasion reversed the political order. Now the Shiites are fighting among themselves, with Iranian-backed Shiites and Iraqi nationalist Shiites jockeying for power, influence and state resources.
Al-Sadr’s nationalist rhetoric and reform agenda resonates powerfully with his supporters, who largely hail from Iraq’s poorest sectors of society and were historically been shut out from the political system under Saddam.
His announcement that he is leaving politics has implicitly given his supporters the freedom to act as they see fit.
Iranian state television cited unrest and a military-imposed curfew in Iraqi cities for the reason for the border closures. It urged Iranians to avoid any travel to the neighboring country. The decision came as millions were preparing to visit Iraq for an annual pilgrimage to Shiite sites, and Tehran encouraged any Iranian pilgrims already in Iraq to avoid further travel between cities.
Kuwait, meanwhile, called on its citizens to leave Iraq. The state-run KUNA news agency also encouraged those hoping to travel to Iraq to delay their plans.
The tiny Gulf Arab sheikhdom of Kuwait shares a 254-kilometer- (158-mile-) long border with Iraq.
The Netherlands evacuated its embassy in the Green Zone, Foreign Affairs Minister Wopke Hoekstra tweeted early Tuesday.
“There are firefights around the embassy in Baghdad. Our staff are now working at the German embassy elsewhere in the city,” Hoekstra wrote.
Dubai’s long-haul carrier Emirates stopped flights to Baghdad on Tuesday over the ongoing unrest. The carrier said that it was “monitoring the situation closely.” It did not say when flights would resume.
On Monday, protesters loyal to al-Sadr pulled down the cement barriers outside the government palace with ropes and breached the palace gates. Many rushed into the lavish salons and marbled halls of the palace, a key meeting place for Iraqi heads of state and foreign dignitaries.
Iraq’s military announced a nationwide curfew, and the caretaker premier suspended Cabinet sessions in response to the violence.
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Global Economy, Politics, Business, Education, Multiculturalism, Geopolitical Rise — we bring you the stories that matter.
Iraqi supporters of powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Tuesday began withdrawing from capital Baghdad’s Green Zone after he demanded fighting to end between rival Shiite forces and the army that left at least 30 dead and hundreds wounded.
The violence that erupted on Monday pitched al-Sadr loyalists against Shiite factions backed by neighboring Iran, with the sides exchanging gunfire across barricades — violence the United Nations warned risked tipping the war-ravaged country deeper into chaos.
Moments after Sadr’s speech was broadcast live on television, his supporters were seen beginning to leave the Green Zone, and minutes after that, the army lifted a nationwide curfew.
Sadr, a grey-bearded preacher with millions of devoted followers who once led a militia against American and Iraqi government forces after the 2003 U.S.-led overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein, gave followers “60 minutes” to withdraw, after which he threatened to “disavow” those who remained.
“I apologize to the Iraqi people, the only ones affected by the events,” Sadr told reporters from his base in the central Iraqi city of Najaf.
Tensions have soared in Iraq amid a political crisis that has left the country without a new government, prime minister or president for months.
They escalated sharply after Sadr’s supporters on Monday afternoon stormed the government palace inside the high-security Green Zone following their leader’s announcement that he was quitting politics.
‘Dangerous escalation’ Overnight, shelling targeted the Green Zone that houses government buildings and diplomatic missions, amid angry protests after Sadr’s surprised many by announcing his “definitive retirement.”
Clashes continued on Tuesday morning — with the rattle of automatic gunfire and heavier explosions of rocket-propelled grenades — as Sadr’s supporters and the army and men of the Hashed al-Shaabi, former Tehran-backed paramilitaries integrated into the Iraqi forces.
The U.N. mission in Iraq warned of “an extremely dangerous escalation” and called on all sides to “refrain from acts that could lead to an unstoppable chain of events.”
“The very survival of the state is at stake,” it warned.
A mass funeral was held Tuesday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf for some of the protesters killed in Baghdad.
Witnesses said earlier that Sadr loyalists and supporters of a rival Shiite bloc, the pro-Iran Coordination Framework, had exchanged fire.
The Framework condemned an “attack on state institutions,” urging the Sadrists to engage in dialogue.
Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi said “security or military forces, or armed men” were prohibited from opening fire on protesters.
‘Disturbing’ The United States also urged calm amid the “disturbing” reports, while France called on “the parties to exercise the utmost restraint”.
Shortly after Sadr made his announcement to step down, his followers burst into the Republican Palace in Baghdad – where cabinet meetings are usually held.
Sadr – a longtime player in the war-torn country’s political scene, though he himself has never directly been in government — announced he was quitting politics two days after he said, “all parties,” including his own, should give up government positions in order to help resolve the political crisis.
His bloc emerged from last year’s election as the biggest in the legislature, with 73 seats, but short of a majority.
In June, his lawmakers quit in a bid to break the logjam, which led to the Coordination Framework becoming the largest bloc.
Iraq has been mired in political deadlock since legislative elections in October last year due to disagreement between Shiite factions over forming a coalition.
Sadr’s supporters have for weeks been staging a sit-in outside Iraq’s parliament, after storming the legislature’s interior on July 30, demanding fresh elections be held.
The Coordination Framework wants a new head of government to be appointed before any new polls are held
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At least 12 protesters have reportedly been shot dead and hundreds of others injured on Monday after supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr stormed Iraq’s government palace shortly after the influential Shiite cleric announced he was withdrawing from politics.
Shots were fired in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone that houses government buildings as well as diplomatic missions, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent said, as tensions soared amid an escalating political crisis that has left Iraq without a new government, prime minister or president for months.
Medics told AFP that 12 al-Sadr supporters had been shot dead and 270 other protesters were hurt – some with bullet wounds and others suffering tear gas inhalation.
Witnesses said earlier that al-Sadr loyalists and supporters of a rival Shiite bloc, the pro-Iran Coordination Framework, had exchanged fire.
Angry protestors stormed the Republican Palace, a key meeting place inside the Green Zone for Iraqi heads of state and foreign dignitaries, for the first time. On July 30, they stormed the parliament building to deter al-Sadr’s rivals from forming a government.
Iraq’s military swiftly announced a city-wide curfew for civilians and vehicles on Monday to quell rising tensions and the possibility of clashes.
Supporters of al-Sadr filled lavish waiting rooms in the palace and chanted slogans in support of the cleric.
Al-Sadr said earlier Monday he was quitting politics and closing his institutions in response to an intractable political deadlock, a decision that could fuel instability.
“I’ve decided not to meddle in political affairs. I therefore announce now my definitive retirement,” said al-Sadr, a longtime player in the war-torn country’s political scene, though he himself has never directly been in government.
He made the announcement on Twitter, where he added that “all the institutions” linked to his Sadrist movement will be closed, except the mausoleum of his father, assassinated in 1999, and other heritage facilities.
His latest statement came two days after he said “all parties” including his own should give up government positions in order to help resolve the monthslong political crisis.
Since legislative elections in October last year, political deadlock has left the country without a new government, prime minister or president, due to disagreement between factions over forming a coalition.
His bloc emerged from last year’s election as the biggest, with 73 seats, but short of a majority. In June, his lawmakers quit in a bid to break the logjam, which led to a rival Shiite bloc, the pro-Iran Coordination Framework, becoming the largest in the legislature.
Since then, al-Sadr has engaged in other pressure tactics, including a mass prayer by tens of thousands of his followers on Aug. 5.
Millions of followers His supporters have been calling for parliament to be dissolved and for new elections, but on Saturday he said it is “more important” that “all parties and figures who have been part of the political process” since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion “no longer participate.”
“That includes the Sadrist movement,” he said, adding that he was willing to sign an agreement to that effect “within 72 hours.”
The gray-bearded preacher has millions of devoted followers and once led a militia against American and Iraqi government forces, following the toppling of dictator Saddam Hussein in the invasion.
Over the years, the chameleon-like figure has taken various positions and then reversed them.
Al-Sadr’s supporters have for weeks been staging a sit-in outside Iraq’s parliament, after initially storming the legislature’s interior on July 30, to press their demands.
They were angered after the Coordination Framework nominated a candidate they saw as unacceptable for prime minister.
The framework wants a new head of government to be appointed before any new polls are held.
Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi earlier this month convened crisis talks with party leaders, but the Sadrists boycotted.
Iraqis say the political infighting has nothing to do with their day-to-day struggles.
Iraq has been ravaged by decades of conflict and endemic corruption.
Oil-rich but blighted by ailing infrastructure, unemployment, power cuts and crumbling public services, Iraq now also faces water shortages as drought ravages swathes of the country.
As a result of past deals, the Sadrists have representatives at the highest levels of government ministries and have been accused by their opponents of being as corrupt as other political forces.
But supporters of al-Sadr view him as a champion of the anti-corruption fight
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Muqtada al-Sadr’s ‘final withdrawal’ from politics announcement spurred followers to violently force their way into Baghdad’s presidential palace.
Iraq’s powerful Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr announced he is quitting political life for good and closing his political offices in a move that could further inflame tensions in the country.
Gunfire rang out in the Green Zone and security forces launched tear gas cannisters on Monday to disperse al-Sadr supporters converging on the area. At least two people were killed and 19 wounded, police and medical workers said.
Al-Sadr’s statement, published on Twitter, came after months of protests by supporters backing his call for the dissolution of the Iraqi parliament, which has seen 10 months of deadlock – representing the longest Iraq has gone without a government – and for new elections to be held.
“I hereby announce my final withdrawal,” al-Sadr said.
He added “all the institutions” linked to his Sadrist movement will be closed, except the mausoleum of his father, assassinated in 1999, and other heritage facilities.
The announcement was quickly met with escalation from al-Sadr’s supporters, who stormed the presidential palace, a ceremonial building inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone of government buildings.
Hundreds pulled down the cement barriers outside the palace with ropes and breached its gates. Many rushed into its lavish salons and marbled halls of the building, a key meeting place for Iraqi heads of state and foreign dignitaries.
Supporters, who have gathered at a sit-in since the end of July near the Iraqi parliament, also approached a counter-protest held by al-Sadr’s Shia rivals. The two sides hurled rocks at each other
Turkey on Wednesday condemned the attack on its consulate general in Iraq’s Mosul that took place earlier in the day in the strongest terms and emphasized that it is the Iraqi authorities’ responsibility to protect diplomatic missions.
In a written statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry indicated that no casualties were reported and said it expected those responsible to be brought to justice as soon as possible.
“We firmly request from the Iraqi authorities to fulfill their responsibilities in protecting diplomatic and consular missions,” it said.
“It is also a grave and noteworthy development that this attack was carried out during the U.N. Security Council meeting, which was held upon the call of the Iraqi authorities and at a time when our country was unfairly accused and targeted,” the ministry said further.
“On this occasion, we once again reiterate our call to the Iraqi authorities to focus on the fight against terrorism and to put an end to the terrorist presence on their territory, which poses a threat to neighboring countries and diplomatic missions.”
“We expect the Iraqi authorities to immediately hold those responsible for the cowardly attack on our Mosul Consulate General,” the defense ministry said similarly in a written statement.
“With the attack on our Mosul Consulate, it was seen once again who attacked civilians and civilian targets. Sooner or later, the terrorists who carried out the attack will be held accountable like other terrorists.”
Speaking on tensions with Iraq, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Wednesday said that provocations in northern Iraq are continuing and reiterated that attacks on Turkey’s presence in the region have happened before.
“We have always warned Iraqi authorities on these harassments. Who has the responsibility to protect our missions? Iraq,” Çavuşoğlu said during a live interview on TV100.
“There are terrorist organizations in your country threatening both you and Turkey from there. They pose threats to our missions in Iraq. The responsibility to clear these terrorists lies on them,” he added, saying that Turkey offered to jointly fight terrorists.
“Unfortunately, terrorist organizations are highly active in Iraq and the Iraqi authorities cannot carry out an effective fight against them.”
On the other hand, the U.N. Security Council said on Tuesday that Turkey and Iraq are ready to launch a joint investigation into the recent deadly attack in northern Iraq’s Duhok province.
The Iraqi government sought the meeting after the July 20 artillery attack that killed nine Iraqi tourists and injured 33 other people. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein claimed the government has “proof” that Turkish forces were responsible.
Turkey has denied it was behind the attack and said that the PKK terrorist group, which has a strong presence in the region, is responsible for the deaths.
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Turkish security forces eliminated two PKK terrorists, one of whom was under the gray category of the country’s wanted list, within the scope of the Eren Blockade operation in Bitlis province, the Interior Ministry announced on Thursday.
In a written statement, the ministry said that the two terrorists were killed in a rural part of the Hizan district through an operation involving unmanned drones in coordination with Van gendarmerie forces.
The ministry added that the operation is continuing in the region.
Turkish security forces regularly conduct counterterrorism operations in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey, where the PKK has attempted to establish a strong presence.
Security forces also conducted operations abroad where the terrorist organization poses a threat. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conduct cross-border operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which to carry out attacks against Turkey.
Meanwhile, security forces eliminated 11 PKK/YPG terrorists in northern Syria and Iraq, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday. The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist organization.
Six terrorists were targeted when they opened fire and tried to mount attacks in the Operation Peace Spring and Olive Branch zones in northern Syria, according to the ministry.
Five other PKK terrorists were targeted by Turkish soldiers in the Operation Claw-Lock and Claw-Tiger zones in northern Iraq, it added.
This April, Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock to target PKK hideouts in Iraq’s northern Metina, Zap and Avashin-Basyan regions, near the Turkish border.
It was preceded by Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle, which were launched in 2020 to eliminate terrorists hiding in northern Iraq and plotting cross-border attacks in Turkey.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
Since 2016, Ankara has launched a string of successful counterterrorism operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terrorism corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield in 2016, Olive Branch in 2018 and Peace Spring in 2019.
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The PKK terrorist organization is digging tunnels in Iraq’s Sinjar and forcefully abducting children while using the district as a base and transfer point between Syria and Iraq, an Iraqi official said on Saturday.
Dayan Cafer, Duhok province’s Migration, Migrants and Crisis Management Center provincial head told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the United Nations and affiliated institutions are moving away from the region, increasing the burden on local administrations.
“The Iraqi government has removed Sinjar and its people from its plans and program,” Cafer said, indicating that the displaced cannot return to Sinjar due to the lack of security and stability due to the PKK.
Stating that the PKK terrorist organization kidnapped children in Sinjar and gave them weapons, Cafer said, “Families come here, have the children’s names written down and want them to be rescued from the organization. Families are afraid to speak up. Because they are threatened with death,” he said.
He also commented on the PKK’s tunnels, saying: “The PKK took an electrician from Sinjar to lay a power line inside the tunnel. The electrician took his family with him and fled from Sinjar and took shelter here. If he was caught, he would have been killed by the organization.”
“The Sinjar border is a transit point for sending PKK militants to Syria, Qandil and other regions,” he noted.
The PKK established a base in Sinjar in mid-2014 under the pretext that it was fighting against Daesh to protect the local Yazidi community. However, rather than providing protection for the Yazidis, the PKK terrorists ended up forcefully recruiting their children, torturing the locals and disrupting educational and health services. The Yazidis, in return, have staged demonstrations to protest the oppression, demanding that the Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) wrest control from the terrorists.
A deal on Sinjar was signed on Oct. 9, 2020 between the KRG and the Iraqi central government to be implemented. Within the scope of the Sinjar deal, a series of security arrangements were to be implemented, including booting out armed groups like the PKK, its affiliates and Iran-backed militias. However, the two governments have failed to take concrete steps
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Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is working to establish two oil firms, the latest move in the battle between Irbil and Baghdad to control the oil sector in the semi-autonomous region.
The KRG’s new oil firm KROC would specialize in oil exploration, while the second – KOMO – would focus on oil exports and marketing from the semi-autonomous region, a spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
The regional government has presented the idea and discussed it with the federal government in Baghdad recently, the KRG spokesperson said in a statement.
The statement follows months of disputes between Irbil and Baghdad after a February federal court ruling that deemed the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region’s oil and gas sector unconstitutional.
The oil ministry in Baghdad has since made fresh attempts to control revenue from the KRG region, including summoning seven firms operating there to a commercial court on May 19. The firms were Addax, DNO, Genel, Gulf Keystone, HKN, Shamaran and WesternZagros.
The commercial court sitting has been postponed twice as some of the representation for these international oil firms did not have power of attorney, several sources told Reuters. The court session is due to resume on Monday, June 20.
As well as announcing plans to establish its own oil company in the KRG, the Iraqi oil ministry has ordered international lead contractors and subcontractors through Basrah Oil (BOC) and Iraq’s national oil firm (Inoc) to pledge not to work on contracts or projects there.
Through letters sent on June 7 and 12, the firms were given three months to terminate existing contracts or projects in the KRG oil sector or face being blacklisted, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The oil ministry is using two law firms – Vincent and Elkins and Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton – to help with gaining control of the KRG oil sector, according to two sources. Both firms have declined to comment.
The KRG has repeatedly rejected the federal court ruling. On June 5, the KRG’s ministry of natural resources filed a civil suit against the minister of oil in Baghdad, Ihsan Ismael, for sending emails and letters to allegedly intimidate oil firms operating in the KRG and interfere with the contractual rights of these firms and the KRG, according to a June 13 statement.
Also on June 5, the Irbil court of investigation ruled that the commercial court sessions against international oil firms must be brought to the Irbil court.
There have been years of attempts by the federal government to bring KRG revenues under its control, including local court rulings and threats of international arbitration.
The implications of the latest dispute are not fully clear as more than eight months since elections in Iraq, the formation of a government is still underway.
Iraq’s efforts to control revenue collected by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have extended to requests for oil and gas firms operating in the semi-autonomous region to sign new contracts with state-owned marketer SOMO rather than the KRG.
Oil Minister Ihsan Ismael on May 7 said Iraq’s oil ministry would start implementing a February federal court ruling that deemed the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region’s oil and gas sector unconstitutional.
A letter seen by Reuters shows that the oil ministry appointed international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton to approach some oil and gas firms operating in the Kurdistan region to “initiate discussions to bring their operations into line with applicable Iraqi law.”
Implementing the court decision “will require changes to the contractual regime” for the companies, the letter added. Other firms received a letter directly from the oil minister, one source said.
The KRG has repeatedly rejected the federal court ruling.
The letters, which were sent on May 8, mark the first direct contact between the ministry and oil firms operating in the Kurdistan region. The move follows years of attempts by the federal government to bring KRG revenues under its control, including local court rulings and threats of international arbitration.
The implications of the latest move are not fully clear as more than seven months since elections in Iraq, the formation of a government is still underway.
An Iraqi oil ministry legal adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that a joint government committee, including representatives from the oil ministry including the minister, Iraq’s National Oil Company (INOC) as well as the Federal Board of Supreme Audit (FBSA), will conduct a contractual review.
The aim is to eventually sign contracts with the central government and not the KRG, the adviser added.
Foreign oil firms present in the Kurdistan region including Genel Energy, Chevron and Gulf Keystone , and Cleary Gottlieb declined to comment, while Iraq’s oil ministry and oil and gas firm DNO did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The oil ministry has yet to receive responses from the companies concerned and could take further legal measures in the case of no response, one oil ministry official said, without elaborating.
Foreign oil firms are unlikely to engage with Baghdad directly without coordination with the KRG, one oil firm representative told Reuters.
Tensions flare Baghdad’s persistent attempts to implement the ruling have the capacity to worsen already fraught tensions with Irbil.
Iraq’s state-owned North Oil (NOC) claimed on Saturday that KRG forces took control of some oil wells in the disputed region of Kirkuk but the KRG denied the allegation, claiming it was designed to create chaos.
On May 12, INOC published an analysis detailing how the KRG’s production-sharing contracts are financially worse for both the government and foreign oil firms than federal Iraq’s own technical service contracts.
Meanwhile, Iraq has struggled to attract major fresh investments into its federal energy industry since signing a flurry of post U.S.-invasion deals over a decade ago.
The Iraqi government has cut oil output targets repeatedly as international oil companies that signed those initial deals leave due to poor returns.
Ismael on Monday said Iraq now plans to boost its crude production capacity from around 5 million barrels per day (bpd) to 6 million bpd of crude capacity by the end of 2027, a sharp downward revision from a previous target of 8 million bpd by that year
More than 10,000 people have fled fighting between the Iraqi army and Yazidi fighters affiliated with the PKK terror group, an official from Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said Thursday.
The latest figure is more than double the 4,000 that an official from the region reported Tuesday.
The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking non-Arab, non-Muslim minority who were massacred by Daesh terrorists in 2014.
Clashes left one Iraqi soldier dead on Monday in the northern region of Sinjar, the Yazidi minority’s heartland, which is the site of frequent confrontations between security forces and local fighters allied with the separatist PKK.
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The latest fighting “has driven families to flee to the Kurdistan region,” with many heading to Dohuk province, said Dayane Hamo, an official in charge of crisis response.
“In three days, their number reached 1,711 families and 10,261 people,” Hamo said, adding they had been given food and other supplies to last a week.
The latest fighting began Sunday, with each side blaming the other for starting it.
A senior Iraqi army official said the clashes cost the lives of a dozen Yazidi fighters.
The army is seeking to apply an agreement reached between Baghdad and the Kurdistan region for the withdrawal of Yazidi and PKK fighters.
The Sinjar region has also been a target of Turkish airstrikes on the rear bases of the PKK. The KRG has an uneasy relationship with the PKK terrorists, whose presence harms the stability and security in the region and complicates the region’s lucrative trade ties with Turkey.
The PKK terrorist group often hides out in northern Iraq, just across Turkey’s southern border, to plot terrorist attacks in Turkey. The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq.
Amid increasing clashes with the PKK terror group in the Sinjar district of the Mosul province, the Iraqi military has launched a large-scale operation for the first time since the 2020 Sinjar Agreement, with one of the main objectives being the elimination of PKK terrorists.
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Iraq has recently conducted a military operation to clear the region of PKK terrorists in response to the group’s increasing terror attacks.
On Sunday evening, heavy fighting erupted between the Iraqi army and the PKK-affiliated Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ).
Despite sporadic clashes between the army and YBŞ in recent months, there were no decisive moves taken before Sunday to implement the 2020 deal.
The presence of PKK terrorists in Sinjar causes a security threat for the civilians in the region.
Displaced Yazidis want peace and stability to be restored in the area so they can return after eight years in camps.
Although an agreement was signed between the Iraqi government and northern Iraq’s KRG on Oct. 9, 2020, the terrorist organization has stepped up its activities.
The PKK continues its presence in the district as the Sinjar Agreement has not been fully implemented yet.
Daesh terrorists attacked Sinjar, a region with a Yazidi-majority population, in August 2014. The terrorist group kidnapped and killed thousands of people, including women and children, or detained them in areas under its control. PKK terrorists managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in 2014 under the pretext of protecting the Yazidi community from Daesh terrorists.
The tension in the region increased after Baghdad announced on Oct. 9, 2020, a “historic deal” with northern Iraq’s KRG to bolster the federal government’s authority in Sinjar.
After the Daesh attack in 2014, most Yazidis had to leave their homes and flee to various parts of the country, including the KRG area. Some of the Yazidi victims also took refuge in Turkey. The PKK abducted and forcibly recruited Yazidi children in Sinjar. The Yazidi people held many protests for the release of their children kidnapped by the terrorist group. The recent clashes have seen Sinjar residents once again displaced from their homes.
Sinjar has a strategic position as it is some 120 kilometers (74 miles) from Mosul and close to the Turkish-Syrian border. The terrorist group aims to create a corridor between the YPG/PKK in northern Syria and Iraq’s northern Qandil region.
A roadside bomb planted by the PKK terrorist group killed a Danish national who was cycling in northern Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said Friday.
According to a statement from police in the Dohuk region, Torbjorn Methmann died in an explosion on Thursday. Police said Methmann and his companion, William Karlsson, also a Danish national, were cycling in the KRG region when Methmann’s bicycle struck the roadside bomb.
The pair were en route to the town of Amedi, a popular tourist attraction in the area known for its archaeological sites. The statement also said the PKK terrorist group was behind the bombing.
Iraqi Kurdish officials could not be reached for comment and the statement provided no evidence to back that claim. Iraq is strewn with land mines and unexploded ordnance left over from years of conflict.
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Authorities in Denmark confirmed that a Danish citizen had died in northern Iraq but did not say more.
Cycling tours are not very common in the area, due to unpaved roads and faulty infrastructure.
Iraqi authorities have been trying to open up the country to tourism in recent years and the federal government in Baghdad offers visas to tourists upon arrival. The KRG-run north, considered safer and more stable than the rest of Iraq, typically hosts more tourists.
Northern Iraq is known as the location of many PKK terrorist hideouts and bases from where they carry out attacks in Turkey. The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq. Turkey 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.
Since its foundation in 1984, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people in Turkey, including women, children and infants.
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In a statement on Feb. 27, 2021, KRG Prime Minister Masoud Barzani emphasized that the authorities could not rebuild 800 villages because of the PKK, adding they would not tolerate the terrorist group’s presence in the region.
Due to the KRG government’s close political, economic and cultural ties with Turkey, the PKK has not hesitated from harming the economic resources of the regional administration, which it accuses of “collaboration.”
The PKK terrorist group continues to threaten the security of civilians and KRG security forces in northern Iraq since taking root in the region in 1983.
The Turkish military has dealt a serious blow to the PKK terrorist organization since 2019 with its operations under the Claw umbrella in northern Iraq along the Turkish border.
A total of 1,067 terrorists were eliminated as part of the series of Claw operations, which started in Hakurk in 2019, continued in Sinat-Haftanin, expanded to Metina and Avasin-Basyan, and most recently continued in the Zap region.
PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq, close to the Turkish border, to plot attacks in Turkey.
The landmark combat drone Akıncı has joined its first major operation ever as Turkey launched a military offensive against PKK terrorist targets in northern Iraq, the company said.
Named “Operation Claw-Lock,” the counterterrorism operation was launched last week from ground and air and targeted terrorists in the Metina, Zap and Avashin-Basyan regions, the Defense Ministry said.
The ministry said the PKK was planning to launch a large-scale attack and that the preemptive operation was in line with the United Nations Charter’s principle of self-defense.
The commando and special forces units are supported by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), attack helicopters and artillery elements.
“The first big operation joined by Bayraktar #AKINCI…,” read a tweet by its developer and drone magnate Baykar.
The unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) joined the company’s Bayraktar TB2, which has been widely used and sold to a range of countries including Ukraine, Qatar, Azerbaijan and Poland.
Baykar retweeted a video shared by the Defense Ministry featuring both Akıncı and Bayraktar TB2 taking off from an unspecified location before targeting and hitting PKK elements in the operation in northern Iraq.
Akıncı marks the most advanced and sophisticated drone built by the country. It was first delivered to the Turkish security forces in late August last year.
Six of them have entered the inventory so far and have been actively used by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), Baykar says.
Akıncı is longer and wider than the Bayraktar TB2 and can perform strategic tasks. It has a 20-meter (65-foot) wingspan with its unique twisted-wing structure and is equipped with fully automatic flight control and a triple-redundant autopilot system.
It can carry various weaponry, including a range of missiles such as Smart Micro Munitions (MAM-L) developed by prominent Turkish contractor Roketsan. It can be equipped with the locally produced active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and air-to-air missiles Gökdoğan (Merlin) and Bozdoğan (Peregrine).
It is also able to launch several other types of locally made munitions, such as the Roketsan-built Stand-Off Missile (SOM), a long-range air-to-surface cruise missile that can hit targets up to 150 miles (240 kilometers) away.
Baykar says the Akıncı can attack targets both in the air and on the ground. It can also operate alongside fighter jets and fly higher and stay in the air longer than Turkey’s existing drones.
Bayraktar TB2 earned worldwide fame following its deployment in conflicts in Syria, Libya and Karabakh, previously referred to as Nagorno-Karabakh. It has been sold to nearly 20 countries so far, with many other nations expressing interest in buying the drone.
The Turkish authorities have said some 45 terrorists have been eliminated so far in “Operation Claw-Lock.”
Northern Iraq is known as the location of many PKK terrorist hideouts and bases from where they carry out attacks in Turkey. The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations. In 2020, it launched operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle in the border regions of northern Iraq.
Since its foundation in 1984, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people in Turkey, including women, children and infants
The PKK terrorist group continues to threaten the security of civilians and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) security forces in northern Iraq since taking root in the region in 1983.
The terrorists’ actions have led to the evacuation of hundreds of villages in Irbil, Duhok and Sulaymaniyah, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.
Activities like agriculture and farming have become impossible in areas where the terrorists are located as local government services, including road and infrastructure construction, water and electricity are unavailable.
Those hoping to return to their villages face obstacles due to the terrorists. Peshmerga KRG soldiers also sometimes clash with the terrorists, disrupting security and threatening residents as fighting takes place.
Mines laid by the PKK have also caused the deaths of many Peshmerga forces over the years.
The PKK has always caused trouble for the regional government and people in Iraq, where it has been present for nearly 40 years.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) fought together against the PKK in 1993.
In separate instances, the PKK clashed with the KDP in 1996 and the PUK in 2000, with the terror group suffering heavy losses in both confrontations.
While the PKK was headquartered in the cities in the 1990s, after these clashes it retreated to the countryside from where it launched terrorist acts and blocked roads.
According to official data from the KRG government, the PKK had occupied 515 villages on the border of Irbil, Duhok, and Sulaymaniyah in 2015. Of these, 304 were in the Duhok province, while 177 were in Irbil and 34 were in Sulaymaniyah.
After Turkey’s successful cross-border operations in recent years, the PKK retreated from the Turkish border into Iraq. It occupied 285 more villages in the last seven years.
In a statement on Feb. 27, 2021, KRG Prime Minister Masoud Barzani stated that the PKK was preventing authorities from rebuilding 800 villages while emphasizing that the terror group’s presence will not not be tolerated in the region.
Due to the KRG government’s close political, economic and cultural ties with Turkey, the PKK has not hesitated from harming the economic resources of the regional administration, which it accuses of “collaboration.”
The terrorist organization has repeatedly attacked the region’s oil pipeline to Turkey, the main source of income for the Irbil administration, causing it to explode. The PKK claimed sabotage attacks on the pipeline on July 29, 2015, Oct. 28, 2020, and Jan. 18, 2022.
According to a report by the KRG parliamentary financial committee, the daily costs to the regional government due to the explosion of the pipeline amount to $10 million.
The PKK has also been threatening to wage war against the Peshmerga forces at every opportunity. It ambushed Peshmerga troops in the Amedi district of Duhok on June 5, 2021, killing five soldiers and injuring seven.
Duran Kalkan, one of the terrorist group’s so-called senior figures, spoke to media outlets affiliated with the PKK after Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock, threatening the KDP.
The Turkish Defense Ministry announced it launched Operation Claw-Lock on Monday after reports that the PKK terrorist group was planning to launch a large-scale attack, adding that the preemptive operation is in line with the United Nations Charter’s principle of self-defense.
In 2020, Turkey launched operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle in the border regions of northern Iraq to ensure the safety of the Turkish people and frontiers.
With most of the PKK terrorist group’s presence eliminated in Turkish territories, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have stepped up their counterterrorism efforts, launching the latest military campaign in northern Iraq titled “Operation Claw-Lock” to bring an end to a longstanding issue.
Senior Turkish authorities have repeatedly underlined that the operation – like previous military operations in northern Syria and Iraq where the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG, are present – is founded on a legal basis arising from international law, as Article 51 of the U.N. Charter gives the inherent right to use self-defense should they face armed attacks.
While Article 51 itself paves the way for a military campaign targeting threats in northern Iraq, the bilateral agreements between Ankara and Baghdad also permit the former to take action as the latter had earlier agreed that the PKK brought along critical problems and threats to the security of Turkey.
Turkey has no designs on another country’s land, but instead only wants to ensure the security of its borders and the stability of its neighbors, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday.
Erdoğan said that the new counterterrorism operation across the border into northern Iraq, Operation Claw-Lock, aims to “rid Iraqi lands of terrorists and guarantee the security of our borders.”
“The Turkish Armed Forces launched this operation to clear the areas occupied in northern Iraq from terrorists,” said Erdoğan, adding that the area has been used by PKK terrorists to prepare and organize terror attacks on Turkish soil.
“We are making every effort to contribute to the strengthening of their territorial integrity and political unity so that our neighbors can live in security and peace,” said Erdoğan.
The latest operation was launched after Turkish intelligence obtained information suggesting that the PKK, which has sustained heavy blows in the past few years, was preparing retaliatory attacks against Turkey.
Operation Claw-Lock focuses on northern Iraqi regions, particularly the areas of Metina, Zap and Avashin-Basyan. The commando and special force units are supported by the UAVs, attack helicopters and artillery elements.
Northern Iraq is known as the location of many PKK terrorist hideouts and bases from where they carry out attacks in Turkey. The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq. Turkey 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.
Since its foundation in 1984, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people in Turkey, including women, children and infants
Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop strongly condemned the ongoing incidents involving the burning of the Quran by far-right supporters in rallies in Sweden, as he said racists are getting a free pass under the guise of freedom of expression to spread Islamophobic and racist policies.
“We’re witnessing a period when anti-Muslim and racist policies are carried out under the cover of freedom of expression,” Şentop told a meeting Tuesday with diplomats of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC)’s parliamentary union members in Ankara.
He continued by saying that he strongly condemns disrespectful acts against the Quran in Sweden, as he urged all countries and global institutions to take a “principled stance” against such attacks and take necessary precautions to prevent them, as such hostility threatens world peace.
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The burning of a copy of the Muslim holy book Quran by far-right extremists sparked riots in several Swedish towns over the Easter weekend.
Turkey on Monday strongly condemned the attacks and provocations against Islam around the world during the holy month of Ramadan, singling out an Islamophobic incident in Sweden in which a far-right politician burned the Muslim holy book, the Quran. Ankara called on all countries and international organizations to take the necessary measures to combat Islamophobia and racism.
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry had summoned on Sunday Sweden’s charge d’affaires, Hakan Rooth, over the burning of the Quran. The ministry had warned that the burning “bears grave implications on Sweden’s relations with all Muslims.”
Turkish officials have criticized their Western counterparts for remaining indifferent to anti-Muslim sentiment and fueling the ideology, while experts believe Turkey can lead the fight against it. Turkey has continuously called on world leaders to take action to stop the demonization of Muslims and has been taking action to tackle the growing problem.
Some European governments work hard to track and neutralize far-right terrorist groups. On the other hand, they participate in the normalization of Islamophobic conversations in Europe through discriminative declarations, bills and security policies targeting Muslims. Moreover, mainstream media and private institutions are also responsible for anti-Muslim feelings as they continuously spread disinformation that harms the Muslim community.
Turkish security forces have completed the first phase of the Claw-Lock counterterrorism operation against PKK terrorists in northern Iraq.
Defense Minister Akar said Wednesday that the first phase was completed successfully and there is no step back from the determined objectives.
As Akar stated, 30 PKK terrorists have been eliminated in the operation so far.
Turkey has no designs on another country’s land, but instead only wants to ensure the security of its borders and the stability of its neighbors, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday.
Erdoğan said that the new anti-terror operation across the border into northern Iraq, Operation Claw-Lock, aims to “rid Iraqi lands of terrorists and guarantee the security of our borders.”
“The Turkish Armed Forces launched this operation to clear the areas occupied in northern Iraq from terrorists,” said Erdoğan, adding that the area has been used by PKK terrorists to prepare and organize terror attacks on Turkish soil.
“We are making every effort to contribute to the strengthening of their territorial integrity and political unity so that our neighbors can live in security and peace,” said Erdoğan.
“We will continue to do so. We act with the same aim in Syria as in Iraq,” he added.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also said late Tuesday that Turkey respects the territorial integrity of Iraq but cannot ignore the terrorism threat posed from the region against its borders and national security.
The minister once again called Iraqi authorities to take action against the PKK presence in their country.
The Turkish military launched a new ground and air counterterrorism operation against the PKK terrorists in northern Iraq, the Defense Ministry announced Monday.
The new operation, called “Operation Claw-Lock,” targets the terrorists in the Metina, Zap and Avashin-Basyan regions.
The group maintains bases in northern Iraq and has used the territory for attacks on Turkey. Turkey has conducted numerous cross-border aerial and ground operations against the PKK over the past decades.
The new operation comes on the heels of Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle launched by the Turkish army in northern Iraq in 2020. Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle began in border regions of northern Iraq in 2020 to ensure the safety of the Turkish people and frontiers.
The PKK terrorist group often hides out in northern Iraq, just across Turkey’s southern border, to plot terrorist attacks in Turkey. The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq.
Turkey 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.
President Erdoğan, who vowed to “clean up” parts of northern Iraq, accuses the PKK of using the mountainous border area as a springboard for its insurgency.
Iraqi businesspeople want to increase their investment in Turkey as they see the country as a safe harbor, Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) Turkey-Iraq Business Council Chairperson Halit Acar said.
Emphasizing the increasing trade volume between Turkey and Iraq, Acar told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Turkey made exports of $9.1 billion to Iraq in 2020 and $11.1 billion in 2021.
“The current trade volume between the two countries stands at $19 billion. Hopefully, these figures will be much higher in 2022. When we look at the January-March numbers, it is seen that there is an increase in our trade,” he said.
Acar noted that Iraqi businesspeople are extremely interested in Turkey.
“We foresee that the trade volume will reach at least $25 billion in 2022. We have meetings in Iraq in this regard. Iraqi businesspeople want to invest in Turkey as they aim to keep their investments in a safe harbor. And Turkey is one of these countries. The relationship between the two countries, both culturally and economically, has been improving. Iraqi businesspeople are interested in energy and manufacturing factories in Turkey,” he said.
Acar added that Iraqi authorities want to attract more investments in agriculture, and are providing many incentives such as giving free land for agricultural activities.
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