Turkey’s Sinjar strikes carry stern messages to Tehran, Baghdad
Source:al Monitor Date:23Aug2021
Turkey’s back-to-back air raids in Iraq’s Yazidi region of Sinjar this week resonate as stern messages to Tehran and Baghdad as the Turkish-Iranian rivalry appears to escalate on Iraqi territory, increasingly drawing in the Iraqi Kurds.
Ankara and Tehran are both irked by each other’s moves in their common neighbor Iraq. Ankara is wary of Iran extending its influence to Kirkuk and Mosul via its allies in Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), while Tehran is annoyed that Turkey’s pursuit of PKK militants has led to an expanded Turkish military presence and de facto buffer zones in the region.