Turkish troops in northern Iraq come under rocket fire

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An Iraqi base housing Turkish troops in Nineveh province came under heavy rocket fire on Wednesday by a little-known group one day after Turkey carried out extensive aerial bombardment in northern Iraq.

Turkey carried out around two dozen airstrikes on Tuesday night in Shingal. The bombardment also struck near a refugee camp in Makhmour, killing and wounding a number of civilians, including women and children.

 

A group calling itself Ahrar Sinjar issued a statement on Wednesday night, stating that they had fired 18 rockets at the Zilkan military base housing Turkish troops in retaliation to Tuesday’s airstrikes. There is no information on the impact caused by the attack.

 

Following Tuesday’s airstrikes, the leader of Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Qais al-Khazaali, released a statement warning that the Iraqi resistance "will teach the Turkish occupation tough lessons and force them out of the pure land of Iraq."

 

Ahrar Sinjar stated that they had waited for the Iraqi government to retaliate, and decided to strike back at the Turkish forces based in Nineveh province when no government response came. 

 

There is no information about where the group is based nor what its affiliations are. 

 

Yazidi activists were outraged by the heavy Turkish assault targeting their ancestral homeland and called on the international community to end Turkish aggression.

 

Following the attack, the president and co-founder of Sinjar Academy expressed his frustration in the lack of meaningful support. "We shrank Yazidi demands from international protection to local protection," he said.

 

"From full justice to meaningful justice. From adequate reparations to some reparations. From rebuilding to pre-2014 to not being bombed," Murad Ismael lamented. "Still the World doesn’t seem to be able to offer that bare minimum."

 

Turkey has come under criticism from Baghdad, Erbil, Tehran and the wider international community for violating Iraqi sovereignty, but Ankara continues to establish increasing numbers of bases and outposts in the mountains of Erbil and Duhok provinces. Turkey launched an operation targeting the PKK in northern Duhok in April of last year.