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Kurdistan
Smoke rises from an airstrike in Baliyan valley, Choman district, Erbil province on October 15, 2021. Photo: submitted to Rudaw
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suspected Turkish airstrike targeted Erbil’s eastern border with Iran on Friday. No casualties have been reported, according to a local mayor.
The airstrike happened at around 10:40 in the morning in Choman district’s Balayan valley.
The mayor of Qasre town, Shakhawan Warti, told Rudaw the strike was carried out by a Turkish drone and no casualties were reported.
Strikes were also reported near Pishdar, north of Dukan Lake.
Turkey frequently carries out cross-border ground and air offensives against alleged positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group fighting for greater rights for Kurds in Turkey that has bases in the Kurdistan Region. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization. In April, Turkey launched the twin operations Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt against the PKK in northern Duhok.
Iran also targets Kurdish opposition groups within the Kurdistan Region’s borders. Kurdish opposition parties have struggled for decades to secure the rights of Kurds within Iran. From the mid-1990s until 2015, the parties based in the Kurdistan Region generally stayed away from clashing with Iranian security forces, but since early 2015 these groups have deployed units to mountainous areas close to the Iran border. From there they have sent units inside Iran and clashed with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other security forces.
Iran last month attacked the border areas of Choman, Sidakan, and Haji Omran on several occasions, targeting alleged Kurdish opposition group bases.
There have been more than 400 military incursions into the Kurdistan Region so far this year, endangering innocent civilians, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) coordinator for international advocacy Dindar Zebari said on September 22, without naming any nation or group.
Civilian populations and the environment have been severely damaged by the Turkey-PKK conflict. Several people have been killed, thousands of acres of land have been scorched, and people’s houses and livestock have been hit.
The KRG has repeatedly called on both Iran and Turkey to respect its sovereignty and for the Kurdish groups to cease using Kurdistan Region territory to launch attacks on its neighbors.
The airstrike happened at around 10:40 in the morning in Choman district’s Balayan valley.
The mayor of Qasre town, Shakhawan Warti, told Rudaw the strike was carried out by a Turkish drone and no casualties were reported.
Strikes were also reported near Pishdar, north of Dukan Lake.
Turkey frequently carries out cross-border ground and air offensives against alleged positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group fighting for greater rights for Kurds in Turkey that has bases in the Kurdistan Region. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization. In April, Turkey launched the twin operations Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt against the PKK in northern Duhok.
Iran also targets Kurdish opposition groups within the Kurdistan Region’s borders. Kurdish opposition parties have struggled for decades to secure the rights of Kurds within Iran. From the mid-1990s until 2015, the parties based in the Kurdistan Region generally stayed away from clashing with Iranian security forces, but since early 2015 these groups have deployed units to mountainous areas close to the Iran border. From there they have sent units inside Iran and clashed with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other security forces.
Iran last month attacked the border areas of Choman, Sidakan, and Haji Omran on several occasions, targeting alleged Kurdish opposition group bases.
There have been more than 400 military incursions into the Kurdistan Region so far this year, endangering innocent civilians, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) coordinator for international advocacy Dindar Zebari said on September 22, without naming any nation or group.
Civilian populations and the environment have been severely damaged by the Turkey-PKK conflict. Several people have been killed, thousands of acres of land have been scorched, and people’s houses and livestock have been hit.
The KRG has repeatedly called on both Iran and Turkey to respect its sovereignty and for the Kurdish groups to cease using Kurdistan Region territory to launch attacks on its neighbors.
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