Operations Claw-Eagle and Tiger


The joint Claw-Eagle and Claw-Tiger operations are ongoing Turkish Armed Forces/Iranian Armed Forces external operations in Iraqi Kurdistan. The attacks have taken place in the Qandil Mountains, the Sinjar District, and Makhmur, ostensibly against Kurdistan Workers' Party targets, as part of the ongoing Kurdish–Turkish and Kurdish–Iranian conflicts. Claw-Eagle, the air campaign, began on 15 June 2020. Claw-Tiger, the ground campaign, was launched on 17 June.

Background

As part of the 2013–2015 peace talks, the Kurdistan Workers' Party agreed to moved most of its fighters to the Qandil Mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Turkish Armed Forces also established bases in Iraq. The conflict reignited once more in June 2015, accompanied by ongoing Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War and harassment of Kurdish parties in Turkey.

Operation Claw-Eagle

The Turkish government claimed that fighter jets destroyed caves in the Qandil Mountains used by the guerrillas. The airstrikes also struck near Makhmur refugee camp, which hosts thousands of Turkish Kurd refugees who fled the conflict in the 1990s, as well as Yezidi villages in Sinjar. The Turkish Ministry of National Defense released a video of the airstrikes, claiming 81 targets were destroyed. On 25 June, a drone strike killed one or two PKK fighters outside a shop in Kuna Masi north of Sulaymaniyah, and injured six nearby civilians in the marketplace. Four of the wounded are in serious condition in Qalachwan Hospital.

Operation Claw-Tiger

On 17 June, Turkish Land Forces launched a ground operation in the Haftanin region of Iraqi Kurdistan. Units of the Hakkari Mountain and Commando Brigade and 1st Commando Brigade were airlifted across the Iraq–Turkey border.
On 20 June, a Turkish Soldier was killed in Haftanin after fighting PKK militias. Three days later, an attack on Turkish forces left one soldier killed and two wounded, according to the Ministry of Defense.

Iranian cooperation

On 16 June, the Iranian military shelled the Choman area of the Qandil Mountains, an attack that is believed to have been coordinated with the simultaneous Turkish airstrikes. The collaboration is said to materialize known alliances between Turkey and Iran.

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