Turkey's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced Friday that 12 YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria and Iraq have been eliminated.

Ten terrorists were killed while attempting to attack the Operation Peace Spring and Operation Olive Branch zones in northern Syria, the ministry said on Twitter.

Turkish authorities use the term "neutralize" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered, were killed, or captured. Two more terrorists were neutralized in the Operation Claw-Lightning zone in northern Iraq, he added.

Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful counterterrorism operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terrorism corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

The Claw operations are a series of offensives Turkey has carried out since 2019 against terrorist groups in northern Iraq, particularly the PKK.

Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle were initiated in June 2020 in Sinjar, Qandil, Haftanin, and Zap regions, while Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt were launched last April in the areas of Metina and Avasin-Basyan.

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.