Escalation between Iraq and Turkey as Erdogan slams Abadi

October 12, 2016

Jeddah, Oct 12: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi’s criticism of the presence of Turkish troops in Iraq ahead of a planned operation to retake Mosul from Daesh.

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“Who’s that? The Iraqi prime minister? First you know your place,” retorted Erdogan.

“You are not my interlocutor; you are not my equal,” Erdogan told a meeting in Istanbul at which he addressed Al-Abadi. “You should know your limits.”

“It is not important at all how you shout from Iraq. You should know that we will do what we have to do,” said Erdogan.

Turkey shares a 1,200 km border with Syria and Iraq, and faces threats from Daesh in both. Turkey is concerned however, that once Daesh is evicted from Mosul, the overwhelmingly Sunni city will be taken over by Iran-affiliated Shiite militias.

Ankara maintains an estimated 2,000 troops in Iraq — around 500 of them in the Bashiqa camp
in northern Iraq. They are training local fighters who will join the battle to recapture Mosul, according to Turkish media reports.

The Iraqi premier’s spokesman, Saad Al-Hadithi, said Erdogan was “pouring oil on the fire” with his remarks. “Turkey’s response has turned a law and security issue into a problem of a personal nature,” he told AFP.

The differences between Ankara and Baghdad flared up after the Turkish Parliament extended a government mandate by one year thereby allowing its troops to remain on both Iraqi and Syrian soil.

The Shiite-dominated Iraqi Parliament labeled the Turkish troops an “occupying force.”
Erdogan rejected the demand for Turkish troop withdrawal.

“Iraq had certain requests from us regarding Bashiqa, and now they are telling us to leave. But the Turkish Army has not lost so much standing as to take orders from you,” said Erdogan.
Turkey’s position is that involving Shiite militias in a drive to expel Daesh from Mosul will not bring peace.

“If you try to change the demographic structure in Mosul, you will ignite the fires of a major sectarian war,” said Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is traveling to Saudi Arabia on Thursday for a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in Riyadh.

Confirming the news to Arab News on Tuesday, Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman Osama Nugali said: “Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir and Cavusoglu will hold a joint press conference on Thursday where they will address this issue (of Mosul).”

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi told Arab News on Tuesday that the GCC meeting with Turkey has assumed significance in the light of the new developments.

“Saudi Arabia and Turkey should be worried about Iran and the sectarian government in Baghdad,” he said. “They (Tehran and Baghdad) have supported demographic changes elsewhere in Iraq. They are changing history; their intentions are bad; and we know this from what they have already done in Sunni areas.”

According to Khashoggi, if Iran and the notorious Shiite militia, Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi, launch an attack of their own on Mosul, “then that will lead to a mass Sunni exodus from Mosul.” He said a Shiite presence in Mosul would make Sunnis anxious and fearful.

Khashoggi is worried about something else. “Iran may populate Mosul with people who are not indigenous to the area,” he claimed. “The Iranians have done this before; they change demographics, and should not be allowed to do so.”

He is strongly opposed to allowing what he sees as Iranian-American designs to succeed in Mosul.

“Erdogan will not allow the Americans and Iranians to go into Mosul with Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi,” he said. “Turkey will insist on — and get — a role for the Peshmergas because the Peshmergas are Erdogan’s strong allies.”

Khashoggi said Turkey would need support from the GCC states and “Turkey would get it, because Turkish concerns are Saudi and Gulf concerns as well.”

He did not agree with the American approach of aligning with Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi and the Kurds in order to liberate Mosul. “That is totally wrong. This should not be allowed (because) Al-Hashad Al-Shaabi are not people indigenous to Mosul,” he said.

Meanwhile, a US State Department official told Arab News that Iraq’s neighbors needed to respect Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“That is the premise that the global Counter ISIL Coalition operates under in Iraq, and we expect all of our partners to do the same,” he said. “We call on both governments to focus on their common enemy — Daesh.”

According to the spokesman, it is imperative for all parties in the coming days and weeks to coordinate their steps in order to ensure a unity of effort in the fight against Daesh.

“We continue to believe that this is a diplomatic matter for the governments of Iraq and Turkey to resolve and we support continued dialogue that will lead to a resolution of this matter,” he said.

“It is important that all parties who support the Iraqi government’s efforts to defeat Daesh do so in a manner that does not inflame sectarian tensions,” he said, and added: “This is something that we have discussed as a coalition and also with the government of Iraq.”

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israel has launched a new act of aggression on a residential neighborhood in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, killing and injuring about two dozen civilians.

The Israeli regime's military said in a statement that its forces carried out a so-called precise strike in a residential apartment in Dahiyeh in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday.

The aggression targeted residential areas, killing at least five people and injuring more than 28 people, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. 

Hezbollah announced the martyrdom of senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai and four resistance fighters.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun condemned the airstrike, calling it a clear demonstration of Tel Aviv’s disregard for repeated international calls to halt violations on Lebanese soil.

“Israel refuses to implement international resolutions and all efforts aimed at ending the escalation and restoring stability,” Aoun said, urging the international community to take action to prevent further aggression.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement also condemned the attack, holding the international community accountable. 

“The international community bears responsibility and continues to provide cover for these attacks as long as it does not restrain the occupiers,” said Ali Abu Shahin, a member of the group’s political bureau.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the Israeli army carried out a strike “in the heart of Beirut."

Netanyahu reportedly approved the operation following recommendations from top Israeli security officials.

Two senior US officials commented on the Israeli strike.

The first official said that Israel did not notify Americans in advance about the attack. "We were informed immediately after the strike was carried out."

The second senior official said that the "US knew for several days that Israel was planning to escalate its strikes in Lebanon, but did not know in advance the timing, location, or target of the strike."

Speaking from the site of the Israeli strike, Lebanese MP Ali Ammar condemned the attack as part of a broader campaign of aggression that has targeted "all of Lebanon since the Washington-sponsored ceasefire."

He stated that "any attack on Lebanon is a violation of red lines; this aggression is part and parcel of the entity that targets Lebanon's dignity, sovereignty, and security of citizens."

Ammar went on to say the resistance is responding with "utmost wisdom, patience, and will confront the enemy at the appropriate time."

"Unfortunately, the enemy is emboldened to commit its aggression by voices within Lebanon that have turned themselves into tools that support its aggression," he added.

The Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital is the latest blatant violation of the ceasefire Israel signed with Hezbollah in November 2024, which was intended to end hostilities that had escalated into full-scale war.

An Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp near Sidon in southern Lebanon late Tuesday killed at least 14 people. It wounded several others, including young students, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The military claimed the attack targeted “a Hamas training compound” used to plan and carry out attacks against the regime -- a claim that has frequently been made without evidence.

Hamas rejected the allegations as “a blatant lie aimed at justifying the massacre,” stating it had “no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon” and that the targeted site was merely “an open sports field.”

According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 4,000 people and displaced more than 1.2 million residents across the country since October 2023.

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News Network
November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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