Turkish airstrikes target Erbil's Barzan area
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish warplanes targeted the Barzan area of the Kurdistan Region's Erbil province on Monday, local activists reported.
The Turkish jets targeted alleged positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Balinda village in the Barzan area, according to a security source quoted by Shafaq News Agency.
"The sound of the bombing was very loud and the plane flew over the sky for a while," Sarwan Barzani tweeted.
#BREAKING: A little while ago, the warplanes of the #Turkish army bombarded the heights of the #Wllatzheri society in #Barzan area.
— Sarwan Wllatzheri (@SarwanBarzani_) February 28, 2022
According to society people , the sound of the bombing was very loud and the plane flew over the sky for a while. pic.twitter.com/o24yL0r6SU
Another local source confirmed Turkish strikes hit the Shireen mountains in the Barzan area behind the Balinda village.
Kamaran Osman, a member of the Iraq team for Christian Peacemaker Teams CPT, an NGO monitoring Turkish air and drone strikes, told Kurdistan 24 that no civilians were injured or killed.
Much of the decades-long conflict between the PKK and Ankara has taken place in the mountainous areas of the Kurdistan Region, where border towns and their inhabitants are at risk of being targeted.
"Turkey will almost certainly continue to rely on airpower to battle the PKK in Turkey, Iraq and Syria, with all the repercussions that entails," the International Crisis Group said in a Feb. 18 report.
"Its military campaign supported by advanced drone technology has been effective in curbing the PKK's presence in south-eastern Turkey and northern Iraq (Kurdistan Region)."