Turkey strikes more targets in Iraq and Syria after several killed in Ankara ‘terror attack’
Turkey has launched a second day of successive strikes in Iraq and Syria after five people were killed, and 22 injured, in an apparent terror attack in Ankara.
Interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said the two attackers – a man and a woman – were killed after the alleged terror incident at a defence and aerospace company in the capital.
Two of the 22 injured were said to be in critical condition.
Turkey attack catch up: Updates as it happened
An explosion in Tal Rifaat, northern Syria.
Pic: Reuters
While no one has claimed responsibility yet, the Turkish defence ministry said its jets conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets.
PKK is considered a terrorist group by NATO-member Turkey and its Western allies.
The country’s National Intelligence Organisation added that it had targeted numerous “strategic locations” used by not just PKK, but also Syrian Kurdish militia affiliated with the group, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish militia fighters were involved in the US-led battle against the Islamic State insurgency in both countries between 2013 and 2019.
The aftermath of an explosion in Tal Rifaat, northern Syria.
Pic: Reuters
Turkey’s targets were said to include military, intelligence, energy, and infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots, it was reported.
A security official said armed drones were used in Thursday’s strikes.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s air force carried out airstrikes against similar targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq hours after the initial incident.
Defence minister Yasar Guler said that Wednesday’s airstrikes destroyed 47 alleged PKK targets – 29 in Iraq and 18 in Syria.
In Syria, the main US-backed force said that Turkish strikes had killed 12 civilians and injured 25 people.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which worked with the US in defeating IS, claimed the attacks hit bakeries, power stations, oil facilities and local checkpoints.
A CCTV image believed to show one of the alleged attackers
‘Heinous terrorist attack’
Multiple gunshots were heard on Wednesday after Turkish security forces entered the TUSAS (Turkish Aerospace Industries) site, in the capital city of Ankara, local media reported.
TUSAS is one of Turkey’s most important defence and aerospace companies and produces KAAN, the country’s first national combat aircraft, among other projects.
CCTV captured two gunmen, the man and the woman, entering the facility with assault rifles and backpacks.
Turkey’s state-run news agency named the five victims, and their occupations: quality control employee Cengiz Coskun; mechanical engineer Zahide Guclu; employee Hasan Huseyin Canbaz; security personnel Atakan Sahin Erdogan, and taxi driver Murat Arslan.
“I condemn this heinous terrorist attack and wish mercy on our martyrs,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Kazan, Russia.
Mr Putin, who is hosting world leaders including Mr Erdogan at a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, expressed his condolences.
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The attack came a day after Mr Erdogan raised the possibility that PKK’s imprisoned leader could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organisation.
There was no immediate statement from the PKK on the attack or the Turkish airstrikes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Israeli Air Force is regarded as one of the country’s most elite units.
So, when hundreds of current and former pilots call for an end to the war in Gaza to get the hostages out, Israelis take notice.
This month, 1,200 pilots caused a storm by signing an open letter arguing the war served mainly “political and personal interests and not security ones”.
The pilots’ protest letter
Part of the letter translated
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the original letter was written by “bad apples”.
But Guy Paron, a former pilot and one of those behind the letter, said the Israeli government had failed to move to phase two of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, brokered under US President Donald Trump.
That deal called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu continues to argue that the war must continue to put pressure on Hamas.
Mr Paron said the (Israeli) government “gave up or violated a signed agreement with Hamas” and “threw it to the trash”.
“You have to finish the deal, release the hostages, even if it means stopping that war,” he argued.
It’s not the first time Israeli pilots have taken up a cause. Many of them also campaigned against Mr Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reforms.
“In this country, 1,000 Israeli Air Force pilots carry a lot of weight,” Mr Paron added.
“The Air Force historically has been the major force and game-changer in all of Israel’s wars, including this current one. The strength of the Air Force is the public’s guarantee of security.”
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UN runs out of food aid in Gaza
Anti-government campaign spreads
Now, the open letter campaign has spread to other parts of the military.
More than 15,000 people have signed, including paratroopers, armoured corps, navy, special units, cyber and medics. The list goes on.
Dr Ofer Havakuk has served 200 days during this war as a combat doctor, mostly in Gaza, and believes the government is continuing the war to stay in power.
He has also signed an open letter supporting the pilots and accused the prime minister of putting politics first.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the authors of the original letter as ‘bad apples’. Pic: AP
He said Mr Netanyahu “wants to keep his coalition working and to keep the coalition together. For him, this is the main purpose of the war”.
A ceasefire could lead to the collapse of the prime minister’s fragile far-right coalition, which is opposed to ending the war.
Threat of dismissal
The Israeli military has threatened to dismiss those who have signed protest letters.
We met a former pilot who is still an active reservist. He didn’t want to be identified and is worried he could lose his job.
“This is a price that I’m willing to pay, although it is very big for me because I’m volunteering and, as a volunteer, I want to stay on duty for as long as I can,” he told us.
The controversy over the war and the hostages is gaining momentum inside Israel’s military.
Read more:
Israel ‘starving, killing’ civilians
Seriously ill Gaza kids arrive in UK
Israeli minister called a ‘war criminal’
It is also exposing deep divisions in society at a time when there is no clear sign about how the government plans to end the war in Gaza, or when.
The renewed war in Gaza over the last year and a half followed deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage.
More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli military’s response, many of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
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