Turkey retaliates after PKK kills nine soldiers

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Turkish military carried out several airstrikes early Saturday morning on energy and civilian infrastructure in northeast Syria (Rojava) and alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets in the Kurdistan Region a day after at least nine Turkish soldiers were killed by the PKK. 

Turkish warplanes “carried out air operations against terrorist targets in the Metina, Khakurk, Gara, and Qandil regions” in the Kurdistan Region as well as “caves, bunkers, shelters, and oil facilities” in northern Syria, striking a total of 29 targets, the defense ministry said in a statement. 

The strikes were in retaliation for a deadly PKK attack on a Turkish military base in the Kurdistan Region, in which five Turkish soldiers were initially reported dead but the toll quickly rose to nine. 

PKK media reported on Friday that its fighters targeted Turkish military bases on Mount Zap in Duhok province’s Amedi district and said that the attacks achieved “great results.” 

In northeast Syria’s Hasaka province, the Turkish strikes hit oil infrastructure near the towns of Tirbespi (al-Qahtaniyah) and Derik (al-Malikiyah), according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Britain-based war monitor. It did not provide information on casualties. 

A Turkish defense ministry video published on X showed warplanes taking off from a military airbase near Turkey’s southern border with Iraq and Syria to “successfully destroy” targets.  

The ministry also claimed “many” PKK fighters were “neutralized” in the air raids. Ankara uses the term “neutralize” to denote adversaries captured, wounded, or killed. 

Turkey has carried out several air and ground operations against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Rojava, which comprises the backbone of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) but Turkey alleges is the Syrian front for the PKK. 

This winter has been a violent one in the decades-long conflict between the PKK and Turkey. 

On Friday, Turkish drones struck two PKK vehicles in Amedi that were carrying weapons and injured two fighters, according to the Erbil-based Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD), also known as Kurdistan CT. 

A day prior, another Turkish soldier was killed by the PKK in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains, according to the defense ministry.

After the PKK killed 12 soldiers in the Kurdistan Region last December, Turkey responded by pounding critical infrastructure in northeast Syria.