Iraqi resistance factions have vowed to drive the Turkish occupation army out of Iraq in the wake of their deadly attack on a tourist resort last week. Two missiles targeted the vicinity of the Turkish consulate in the Iraqi city of Mosul in the early hours of 27 July, according to local sources.
No casualties or damage to the consulate was reported, and no group has taken responsibility for the attack.
Turkey’s ‘Zelikan’ military base in eastern Mosul was also targeted by at least five rockets on 27 July, marking the second attack to target the occupation base in less than a week.
On 24 July, Iraqi resistance movement Saraya Awliya al-Dam (SAD) claimed responsibility for a drone attack against the base.
The latest attacks on Turkish targets come just one week after Ankara’s forces seemingly targeted a tourist resort in Dohuk province in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR), killing nine civilians.
Turkey has blamed the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) for the artillery attack, claiming Turkish troops “do not target civilians.”
Days before the attack on the tourist resort, a Turkish drone strike left five civilians dead in northern Iraq.
On 25 July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the attack on the resort was carried out by “terrorists” aimed at hindering relations between Ankara and Baghdad.
His comments were made on the same day when the UN Security Council (UNSC) condemned “in the strongest terms” the attack on Dohuk and “expressed its deepest sympathy to the victims’ families, the Iraqi Government, and the Iraqi Kurdistan region.”
While Turkey claims the Iraqi government supports its military activities against the PKK, the officials in Baghdad have categorically denied the statement, confirming there is no cooperation or approval for Turkish military actions inside Iraq.
In the days following the attack on Dohuk, the head of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq resistance faction, Qais Khazali, called on Iraqi lawmakers to issue a resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of Turkish forces from Iraq.
The Turkish consulate building in Mosul, Iraq in the aftermath of the attack on 27 July. (Photo credit: Shafaq News)