ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A military official from the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) was killed in an airstrike by the Turkish army in northern Iraq on Tuesday, the Kurdistan Region’s counter-terrorism directorate said in a statement following the attack, with a media outlet close to the armed group confirming the news.
Turkish airstrikes targeted a vehicle in the town of Khanasor in Shingal district, killing the YBS military commander Marwan Badal Haji, the directorate announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Badal was accompanied by his two children at the time of the offensive, Firat News Agency (ANF) which is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) reported.
ANF confirmed Badal’s death, noting that his children were safe.
Turkish attacks that target civilian lives will lead to “unprecedented massacres,” the commander-in-chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Mazloum Abdi said in a tweet following the incident.
“The international community bears the responsibility to stop the violations and protect civilians,” he added.
Turkey has not yet commented on the attack.
The Yazidi commander Badal, also known as Dijwar, formed the core of a local Yazidi militia in 2014 during the Islamic State (ISIS) invasion. The terror group caused havoc in the Yazidi heartland of Shingal in Nineveh as it killed and enslaved thousands of the ethno-religious group.
The militia later grew to be a highly maintained force that became known as the YBS, supported by the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG).
Turkey considers the YPG and YBS to be an offshoot of the PKK, an armed group fighting for the enhanced rights of Kurds in Turkey. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, which carries out regular military campaigns against the group at home and in northern Iraq, including in the Kurdistan Region.
Several armed forces affiliated with the Iraqi government, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the PKK, and Hashd al-Shaabi are present in Shingal. The district is among the areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad. Ankara occasionally carries out such attacks against the YBS in Shingal.
A Turkish airstrike killed two members of the YBS, including a senior commander and three civilians on August 16. Another aistrike hit a hospital in Shingal a day later, killing four care workers and four YBS fighters.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously warned that they will continue attacking Shingal as long as the PKK fighters are present there.
Turkey is currently conducting two military operations against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region, causing casualties among the PKK, Turkish army, and civilians.
Updated at 8:08 pm
