Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 306

ISTANBUL/DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Gunmen opened fire on Turkish police outside an Istanbul palace and eight soldiers were killed in a bomb attack in the southeast on Wednesday, heightening a sense of crisis as the country's political leaders struggle to form a new government.

The Istanbul governor's office said two members of a "terrorist group" armed with hand grenades and an automatic rifle were caught after attacking the Dolmabahce palace, popular with tourists and home to the prime minister's Istanbul offices.

There were no reports of casualties.

Militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) meanwhile killed eight soldiers with a roadside bomb in the southeastern province of Siirt, the military said, intensifying a conflict there after the breakdown of a two-year ceasefire last month.

The unrest in the NATO member state comes weeks after it declared a "war on terror," opening up its air bases to the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, launching air strikes on Kurdish militants, and detaining more than 2,500 suspected members of radical Kurdish, far-leftist and Islamist groups.

Syria's state news agency has quoted a Syrian military source as saying that an Israeli army helicopter launched a number of rockets towards Syrian territory, targeting the transportation directorate and the governorate building in Quneitera.

The attack on Thursday, which the SANA news agency said only caused material damage, came after an an Israeli military spokesperson said that rockets had hit northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said that the Israeli bombardments had targeted Syrian military positions in the Quneitra province and reported unspecified casualties among the Syrian troops.

Following the rocket attack on Israel, an Israeli army spokesperson said in a statment that "the [Israeli] army sees Syria as responsible for the fire, and it will pay the price for it".

Israel's Haaretz's newspaper reported that two rockets landed in the northern Galilee, and two in the occupied Golan Heights and that no damage or injuries were reported.

55 security personnel, 771 terrorists killed in one month: Report





As many as 55 Turkish security personnel have been killed in terrorist attacks across Turkey over the past month, while the security forces have killed 771 militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in operations within the country and in northern Iraq, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Aug. 21.

Turkey has been struck by an upsurge in violence against security forces and civilians in the east and southeast in particular, with armed offensives and bomb attacks conducted by the outlawed organization leaving scores of deaths and injuries.

A 19-year-old young man, Ali Akpınar, was killed after unknown assailants with their faces masked detonated a hand-made bomb in the southeastern province of Mardin on Aug. 19. Akpınar was injured when the explosion occurred in Mardin’s Artuklu district and he was rushed to the Mardin Public Hospital, but be could not be saved.

Recent attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which have killed more than 50 Turkish security forces have revealed that the group installed improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on roads while peace talks were continuing.

Turkey has accused the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) of “openly supporting terrorism” by making “written and visual propaganda” of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) during a broadcast on Aug. 20.

“Such broadcasting about an organization which is listed as a terrorist [organization] by many countries, particularly EU countries, is open support for terrorism,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Aug. 21.

The broadcast, which portrayed the PKK as “an innocent organization struggling against another terrorist organization and encouraged [people] to join the PKK, is not acceptable in any way,” the ministry said in a written official statement.

This is not the first time that Turkish authorities have targeted U.K. media outlets’ reporting on the PKK, which is listed as terrorist organization by a large portion of the international community including the European Union and the United States, in addition to Turkey.

In 2005, then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan harshly criticized the BBC and Reuters for describing PKK members as militants and guerillas instead of terrorists.

“Only in last one month, the PKK terrorist organization has slayed 64 people, wounded 350 persons, kidnapped 16 persons, sabotaged railways and dams and attacked transportation infrastructure and vehicles,” the ministry said, underlining that the BBC broadcast was “a concrete indication and evidence that terrorist organizations have been nourished by this irresponsible and hypocritical approach and support.”

“The BBC is expected to apply its broadcasting policy, which it followed in regards to IRA [the Irish Republican Army] which recently launched a bomb attack against a police barracks in Northern Ireland, to the PKK terrorist organization, too,” the ministry said.

Turkish far-right group will only take to streets ‘if security forces fail to combat terror’

Stating that there were many calls from mostly fake social media accounts calling for members of the Idealist Hearths to take to the streets to preserve security at a time when violence has risen and many security forces have been killed, Olcay Kılavuz, the head of the group, said they were “determined to stay within the law.”

Kılavuz stressed that preserving safety was the duty of the security forces, but they would act if the situation came to a point where this could not be implemented.

“The Idealist Hearths are determined to continue their thoughts and acts through legal means, considering that the Turkish Republic is a state of law. It is the main duty of the security forces to combat terrorism.

Turkey, US agree on clear and hold plan against ISIL

Turkey and the United States have agreed to clear an area between two Syrian towns by the Turkish border of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) before turning the area over to the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

According to the details of the agreement seen by daily Hürriyet, the two countries have signed a memorandum of understanding and have been working on a military operation plan other than one being implemented under the anti-ISIL coalition led by the U.S.

As part of the existing plan, U.S. jets departing from the İncirlik military base close to the border have been hitting ISIL targets.

Under the new plan, Turkish fighter jets will join the air strikes as part of the clearing phase between Syria’s Jarablus and Marea. The two countries will also back local opposition forces on the ground for this phase.

The plan also includes sending volunteer refugees in Turkey to camps that will be built in the zone once it is cleared of ISIL forces.

Both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, signed the MoU, which avoids mention of the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose military arm, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), have been also fighting against ISIL. However, the two countries have verbally agreed not to permit the PYD to pass the western side of the River Euphrates and prevent the group and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces from filling the area emptied by ISIL.

Turkey declared to the U.S. that it would hit the PYD if it passes the line drawn by the river, even if it does not target Turkey. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-us-agree-on-clear-and-hold-plan-against-isil.aspx?pageID=238&nID=87225&NewsCatID=510

US defense chief urges Turkey to ‘do more’ against ISIL

Turkey needs to “do more” to assist the U.S.-led international coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria and Iraq, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Aug. 20, urging the NATO partner to take steps to participate in airstrikes and better control its border.

Carter said the U.S. appreciates Turkey’s recent decision to permit U.S. warplanes to fly combat missions out of Turkish air bases. But he said top U.S. leaders are in “active discussions” with Turkey about the need to better stem the flow of Islamic militants crossing its border into Iraq and Syria.

“This needs to be done. It’s overdue, because it’s a year into the campaign. But they’re indicating some considerable effort now, including some - allowing us to use their airfields,” he told a Pentagon news conference. “That’s important, but it’s not enough.” http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-defense-chief-urges-turkey-to-do-more-against-isil.aspx?pageID=238&nID=87294&NewsCatID=510

HDP co-chair Demirtaş calls on PKK to halt violence ‘without ifs or buts’

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has called on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to halt a month of violence against security forces “without ifs or buts.”

The comments were the clearest call yet from HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş for the PKK to agree to an unconditional cease-fire, although the leader also called for a summary end to government attacks in the east and southeast.

“The PKK has to stop its armed attacks and bombings in the towns and the mountains without ifs or buts,” the Doğan News Agency quoted Demirtaş as saying in a speech in the western city of İzmir.

“There is no alternative for us. More deaths of Kurds, Turks, soldiers, guerillas and police must be stopped,” said Demirtaş.

“The government must halt operations with ifs or buts [as well],” he said. The government accuses the HDP of being the PKK’s political wing but Demirtaş has repeatedly insisted that there is distance between the two organizations.

“No one has anything to win from a civil war in Turkey. Just look at Syria and Iraq.” But Demirtaş said killing soldiers and police was not the way to bring the AKP to account. “They are also the children of this country, our children,” he said.

İncirlik ‘fantastic’ for targeting ISIL, US officer says
A senior U.S. military officer has said the use of İncirlik base in Turkey for the U.S.-led coalition’s air operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in northern Syria and Iraq is “already proving to have a great multiplier effect on the battlefield.”

Brig. Gen. Kevin Killea, chief of staff of the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR), told reporters on Aug. 21 that the location of İncirlik was “fantastic and strategic” for coalition forces to hit ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq.

Rebel video of aftermath of fighting in the Ghab plain, including captured tanks/armoured vehicles.

Kurdish Peshmerga interrogate wounded IS soldier.

Istanbul, Turkey (CNN)A cross-border gunfight erupted Thursday between suspected ISIS militants in Syria and troops in Turkey, leaving at least one Turkish soldier dead and prompting Turkey to fire artillery at other positions inside its southern neighbor, officials said.

Thursday's incident began when at least five fighters in northern Syria approached the border and fired on Turkish soldiers, Turkey's military said.

On September 07 2015 19:41 Nomzter wrote:
Sorry, who are "insurgents" on that map?

A doctor was killed in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır late on Aug. 31 in a shooting carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, the district governor has stated.

World Bulletin / News Desk
A roadside bomb in the Silvan district of Diyarbakir as resulted in the death of a 13 year old boy.
According to local sources, the roadside bomb was planted on a freeway near the Silvan Dam construction site. The bomb was set off by a remote control device and resulted in the death of 13 year old Firat Simpil.
The 13 year old boys body was tranferred to the morgue at Silvan state hospital. The explosion also caused the collapse of a nearby homes' wall as well as signifcant damage on the road. Security forces have commenced a large scale operation in the district to find those responsible.

A woman was killed when a group of terrorists from the PKK opened fire on a car carrying a family during what the terrorist group calls a "road check" in the eastern province of Erzincan on Thursday while a soldier was killed in a clash with the PKK in Diyarbakır.
Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=75e_1441091134#Kwz6M0MrRUzl5Ss8.99

The Turkish army was conducting an operation to open a road between Hakkari’s two districts, Dağlıca and Yüksekova, on Sept. 6, when a group of PKK militants detonated a roadside improvised explosive device (IED). Two armored vehicles were heavily damaged, while 16 soldiers were killed in the attack, read the statement.