Turkey Continues Attacks on Kurdish Militants in Iraq and Syria

On Tuesday, January 16, Ankara announced that the Turkish army had destroyed several targets of Kurdish militants in northern Iraq and Syria during nighttime airstrikes. These latest attacks come after the deaths of nine Turkish soldiers in clashes with militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on January 13 in northern Iraq. According to a statement released by the Turkish Ministry of Defense along with a photo of its warplanes, '23 targets including caves, shelters, tunnels, ammunition depots, logistical materials, and facilities used by the terrorist organization were destroyed.' The statement also mentioned that a large number of militants had been 'neutralized.' The PKK, which Turkey, the U.S., and the EU classify as a terrorist group, took up arms against the Turkish government in 1984. Ali Yerlikaya, Turkey's Interior Minister, wrote on the social media platform X that the 'Counter-Terrorism Police' had arrested 165 individuals suspected of links to the PKK across 28 provinces. Additionally, Turkey has targeted the water and electricity infrastructure in Kurdish areas of Syria, causing several power plants to go offline. According to Hougar Najjar, a media official from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, at least 40 sites, including power plants, water pumping stations, and oil infrastructure, have been targeted by Turkey. Najjar stated that these attacks have left at least 10 cities without water and electricity. The Syrian Democratic Forces, which control most of northeastern Syria, accused the Turkish government of deliberately attacking civilian infrastructure, disrupting essential services such as water and electricity for hundreds of thousands of residents in the region. Over the years, Turkey has repeatedly targeted Kurdish-controlled areas in northern and northeastern Syria under the pretext of fighting the PKK. Ankara claims that the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main U.S. ally in the fight against ISIS in Syria, are the Syrian branch of the PKK and that its cross-border operations against Kurdish areas in Syria are part of its 'war on terror.' The Syrian Democratic Forces and officials from the administrations of Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden have repeatedly rejected Turkey's accusations and emphasized the primary goal of the fight against ISIS.