The Turkish military has launched a critically timed ground and air offensive against Kurdish militants in a mountain range in neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan, the latest in a series of cross-border campaigns since 2019 that have resulted in dozens of Turkish bases in the region.

The extensive offensive, consisting of two operations codenamed Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt, began late April 23, targeting the Zap, Metina and Avashin areas, home to long-standing camps of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the armed outfit that has fought Ankara since 1984 and is designated as a terrorist group by much of the international community. The operation involves fighter jets, attack helicopters and combat and surveillance drones as well as artillery units at the border. On the ground, commando forces have moved in, both by land and by airdrops.

Visiting the operation center in the Turkish border town of Yuksekova on April 25, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that more than 1,200 targets had come under artillery and aerial fire and that the commandos had killed 31 PKK members. In a video address to the operation center, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed “to root up terrorism.” Referring to the PKK and its Syrian affiliate, he added, “There is no place for the separatist terrorist organization and terrorism in the future of Turkey, Iraq and Syria.”

According to a PKK statement April 26, Turkish forces airdropped troops at several locations in Avashin, Metina and Zap. In Avashin, they fired gas rockets into “war tunnels” and deployed on a hilltop in the area, the statement said, adding that a similar deployment took place in Metina, where the area of Derare was heavily bombed. The PKK said it responded with “sabotage tactics” and counterattacks to all those actions, claiming the Turkish forces suffered multiple casualties.