ANKARA: Turkish warplanes carried out new airstrikes Wednesday against Kurdish militant targets in neighboring Iraq, the Turkish defense ministry said, a day after Turkish and Iraqi officials held high-level security talks in Ankara.
Turkiye often launches strikes against targets in Syria and Iraq that it believes to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a banned Kurdish separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Turkiye since the 1980s.
According to a statement from the ministry, the fighter jets struck a total of 14 suspected PKK targets in northern Iraq’s Gara, Hakourk and Qandil regions where the aircraft destroyed caves, shelters and warehouses used by the militants. Measures were taken to avoid harming civilians, historic or cultural heritage and the environment, the ministry added.
There was no immediate comment from the PKK, the government in Baghdad or the administration in the semiautonomous northern Kurdish region in Iraq.
Ankara maintains that PKK has sanctuaries in northern Iraq, where its leadership is also purportedly based.
On Tuesday, top military and security officials led by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein met in Ankara to discuss security issues, including the threat from PKK, according to a communique released at the end of the meeting.
PKK is considered a terror organization by the United States and the European Union. Tens of thousands of people have died since the start of the conflict in 1984.
Turkiye says its warplanes have hit suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq
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Turkiye says its warplanes have hit suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq
- The fighter jets struck a total of 14 suspected PKK targets in northern Iraq’s Gara, Hakourk and Qandil regions
- Ankara maintains that PKK has sanctuaries in northern Iraq
Egypt backs ‘pressure on Israel’ but says Gaza actions need approval
Egypt “asserts the importance of putting pressure on Israel to end the blockade on the (Gaza) Strip,” the foreign ministry said as hundreds of activists in a Gaza-bound convoy head to the Egyptian border on their way to the besieged Palestinian territory, but added “we will not consider any requests or respond to any invitations submitted outside the framework defined by the regulatory guidelines and the mechanisms followed in this regard.”
Israeli strike kills one in Lebanon’s south
- Health ministry says Israeli drone strike hit the town of Beit Lif
BEIRUT: One person was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike on a village in southern Lebanon, the health ministry reported, the latest deadly attack despite a November ceasefire.
“The raid carried out by an enemy Israeli drone on the town of Beit Lif, in the Bint Jbeil district, resulted in one martyr and three people injured,” read a statement from the ministry.
The official National News Agency said the strike targeted a house’s courtyard in the town, adding that a missile hit the homeowner’s car.
Israel has regularly bombed its northern neighbor since the November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with militant group Hezbollah including two months of full-blown war.
The agreement required Hezbollah fighters to withdraw north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle all military infrastructure to its south.
It also required Israel to withdraw all of its troops from Lebanon, but it has kept them in five positions it deems “strategic.”
US prepares to order departure of Baghdad embassy staff
- State Department prepares to order departure of all nonessential personnel from US Embassy in Baghdad, officials tell AP
WASHINGTON: The State Department is preparing to order the departure of all nonessential personnel from the US Embassy in Baghdad due to the potential for regional unrest, two US officials said Wednesday.
The Baghdad embassy has already been on limited staffing, and the order will not affect a large number of personnel, but the department also is authorizing the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait.
That gives them an option on whether to leave the country.
The Pentagon is standing by to support a potential evacuation of US personnel from US Embassy Baghdad, another US official said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to detail plans that have not been made public.
Former Lebanese economy minister arrested on corruption charges
- Former Economy Minister Amin Salam was detained after three-hour interrogation
BEIRUT: A former Lebanese Cabinet minister has been arrested and charged after an investigation into alleged financial crimes, judicial and security officials told The Associated Press.
Former Economy Minister Amin Salam was detained after a three-hour interrogation about illegal use of ministry funds and use of suspicious contracts. The three judicial officials and one security official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Lebanon has been trying to reform its battered economy, which for decades has been rife with profiteering.
Salam has been charged with forgery, embezzlement, and misuse of public funds. Local media said it was related to alleged extortion of private insurance companies and using funds from a committee that supervises those companies for his own expenses.
Salam did not directly comment. On Monday, however, he shared a video on social media that denied the reports and asserted that his use of those funds was to increase the committee’s efficacy and transparency.
Salam was economy minister for over three years. He was appointed in 2021 at a time when Lebanon’s economy had plummeted and the country was plagued by severe power outages, fuel shortages and stark food inflation.
Israel urges Egypt to block Gaza-bound activist convoy
- Pro-Palestinian activist convoy, bound for Gaza, arrived in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Wednesday
JERUSALEM: Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday called on Egypt to block a hundreds-strong pro-Palestinian activist convoy from reaching Gaza, as the group arrived in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
“I expect the Egyptian authorities to prevent the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border and not to allow them to carry out provocations or attempt to enter Gaza — an act that would endanger the safety of (Israeli) soldiers and will not be allowed,” Israel Katz said in a statement.
