Istanbul The Turkish Defense Minister, Hulus Akar, confirmed that the Turkish army will continue its military operations to destroy the hideouts, shelters, caves, tunnels and warehouses of the PKK in northern Iraq and Syria.
Akar said in a press statement during his follow-up to the military operations from the operations center on Sunday morning: We will continue to hold accountable those who targeted the security of our country and our nation, as we held them accountable before, and we will never let the blood of the innocents on the ground go in vain, and we will destroy those who target the security of our country and our nation.
Akar added, “Our goal is to ensure the security of 85 million citizens and our borders, and to respond to any treacherous attack on our country,” noting that, “since midnight last night, the operation was carefully planned against specific targets in northern Iraq and Syria and was successfully implemented.”
The Turkish army announced at dawn today the start of its military operations against the PKK positions in northern Iraq and Syria, starting from Diyarbakir military airport in the south of the country, with 70 warplanes and 20 Bayraktar drones.
In a statement, the Turkish army indicated that the Syrian airspace was used for the first time, in coordination with the Russian forces, to bomb several targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in response to the explosion in Istanbul, and that the bombing included sites belonging to the Syrian forces in Abu Rasin in the northern countryside of Hasakah, and 8 sites of the PKK /PYD in Syria and 5 locations in northern Iraq.
The Turkish army stated that a military convoy entered through Bab al-Salama crossing into northern Syria.
The Turkish army stated that the Turkish bombardment included Ain al-Arab, Ain Issa, Ain Daqna, Darbasiyah, Tal Refaat, al-Kayyah, near Manaj airport and Qamishli in Syria, and Sinjar, Qandil and Sulaymaniyah in Iraq.
The Turkish army added that the targets that were bombed in Syria were some of them at a depth of 170 km inside Syrian territory, where more than 100 targets were destroyed so far during the air raids on the sites of the PKK.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency