The PKK terrorist group is coordinating with Iran-backed militia groups against Turkish forces in northern Iraq, according to a recently published Pentagon analysis.
The Lead Inspector General of the U.S.-led anti-Daesh coalition said in a quarterly report published on Tuesday that Iran-backed militants have recently "increased attacks against Turkish forces in Iraq and Syria" with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessing "that the militias probably will continue to coordinate with the" PKK.
"Following Turkish airstrikes in February that targeted the PKK in northern Iraq, a new Iran-aligned militia group conducted a rocket attack against a Turkish expeditionary base north of Mosul," the declassified report said.
"The militias probably calculate that their attacks against Turkey will deter Turkey from attacking the PKK in federal Iraq while enhancing their public image as defenders of Iraqi sovereignty," the DIA assessment read.
The Turkish military has dealt a serious blow to the PKK terrorist organization since 2019 with its operations under the Claw umbrella in northern Iraq along the Turkish border.
More than 1,000 terrorists were eliminated as part of the series of Claw operations, which started in Hakurk in 2019, continued in Sinat-Haftanin, expanded to Metina and Avasin-Basyan, and most recently, continued in the Zap region.
Most recently, the Turkish military last month launched a new ground and air counterterrorism operation against the PKK terrorists in northern Iraq. The new operation, called “Operation Claw-Lock,” targets the terrorists in the Metina, Zap and Avashin-Basyan regions.
The terrorists had been preparing to carry out a large-scale attack against the Turkish military, the ministry said, adding that terrorist targets, including camps, shelters, hideouts, tunnels, caves and ammunition depots, have been hit by Turkish fighter jets, helicopters and drones.
Turkish commandos and special forces also participated in the operation, carried out both by land and air. Artillery units also fired on terrorist targets in the military operation. The ministry noted that the operation dealt a heavy blow to the terrorist PKK presence in the region.
The operation is in line with the United Nations Charter's principle of self-defense, it added. The operation was carried out in coordination with Turkey’s “friends and allies,” the ministry added, but didn't elaborate. Last month, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which controls the areas that were attacked.
Barzani said after his talks with Erdoğan that he welcomed "expanding cooperation to promote security and stability" in northern Iraq.
The KRG has an uneasy relationship with the PKK terrorists, whose presence harms the stability and security in the region and complicates the region's lucrative trade ties with Turkey.
The new operation comes on the heels of Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle launched by the Turkish military in northern Iraq in 2020. Operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle began in the border regions of northern Iraq in 2020 to ensure the safety of the Turkish people and the country's frontiers.
The PKK terrorist group often hides out in northern Iraq, just across Turkey's southern border, to plot terrorist attacks in Turkey. The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq.
Turkey has long been stressing that it will not tolerate terrorist threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps were not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terrorist threats.
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 nearly 40,000 people, including women and children.
