Kurdish Leader and Iraq Condemn Airport Attack, Blaming Turkey

(Patria) - The commander of the main US-backed forces in Syria and the Iraqi Presidency have condemned what they say was a Turkish attack on an airport in northern Iraq, reports AP.

The condemnation followed confirmation on Saturday by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are predominantly Kurdish, that their top commander, Mazloum Abdi, was at an airport in northern Iraq at the time of the attack but withheld information until he returned home. Abdi later spoke to Kurdish media, saying he was with US-led coalition troops fighting the Islamic State at the time of the attack.

The Iraqi Presidency called the explosion in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq a "flagrant aggression against Iraq and its sovereignty." They called on Turkey to issue a formal apology, saying it should not continue to "terrorize" Iraqis in the north of the country. A Turkish Defense Ministry spokesperson said they had no information about the incident. Turkey has been fighting Kurdish militants for years in its east, and large Kurdish communities live in neighboring Iraq and Syria, where they have a degree of self-rule. Turkey considers the main Kurdish militia in northeastern Syria an ally of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK has waged an insurgency within Turkey for decades.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in the United Kingdom, and some local media reported on Friday that the explosion near Sulaymaniyah International Airport was a Turkish drone strike targeting Abdi, the SDF leader.

The explosion occurred days after Turkey closed its airspace to flights to and from the airport, citing alleged increased activity by Kurdish militants that threatened flight safety. The airport's security authority announced that an explosion occurred near the airport fence, causing a fire, but there were no injuries.

When asked about the reasons for the attack, Abdi said it was "a clear message from the Turks that they are bothered by us, that they oppose our international relations, and that they want to harm us." Rami Abdurrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory, said on Saturday that Abdi was not directly targeted but was near the airport and had a meeting with Kurdish officials when the Turkish military carried out the attack.

Retired US Colonel Myles B. Caggins III, a senior non-resident fellow at the US-based New Lines Institute for Strategy, said a missile targeted a convoy carrying leaders of the Syrian Democratic Forces, as well as US advisors, of the Kurdish-led forces.

"Turkey sent a warning shot. A lethal and dangerous and provocative warning shot when it fired a missile at the convoy," he said.

Caggins added that Turkey appeared to be sending a warning to both the United States and Iraqi Kurds to stop supporting the SDF. He added that Turkey would likely continue such attacks "with impunity" because it says the SDF is linked to the PKK and that "therefore Turkey feels justified in targeting" the SDF.

Caggins said he expected Turkish leaders to be emboldened by their ability to carry out cross-border attacks into Syria and Iraq because the only response has been "a little finger-wagging and minor protests from Baghdad, Damascus, and Washington."