Turkey deploys 150 soldiers, 20 tanks to Iraq's Mosul to join anti-Daesh drill

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Last edited Fri Dec 4, 2015, 05:27 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Daily Sabah

150 Turkish soldiers equipped with heavy weapons arrived on Friday at the outskirts of Daesh-held Mosul in Northern Iraq.

Turkish officials told Daily Sabah that Turkish soldiers were accompained by armored vehicles in Mosul operation with US-led coalition forces.

"Turkish soldiers have reached the Mosul Bashiqa region. They are there as part of routine training exercises. One battalion has crossed into the region," the source said. The Turkish soldiers are training Iraqi troops, he added.

According to information an AA reporter received from reliable sources, new Turkish troops were deployed to the area located near Mosul to replace the current troops who have been there for 2.5 years for the training of Peshmerga. 150 soldiers along with around 20 tanks were also deployed to the Mosul Bashiqa region via land for the replacement of the current battallion.

Read more: http://www.dailysabah.com/syrian-crisis/2015/12/04/turkey-deploys-150-soldiers-20-tanks-to-iraqs-mosul-to-join-anti-daesh-drill

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I'm assuming with permission?

#BREAKING Sec sources revise the troop number.130 Turkish troops enter #Bashiqa region in #Mosul to train Peshmerga.

https://twitter.com/CNNTURK_ENG/status/672867422806941696

[mwrguy]

1. ten bucks says they attack Kurds instead

[Roy Rolling]

2. at least on the way back home n/t

[Javaman]

3. I never take a suckers bet.

like a tape playing over and over in my head, I keep hearing a quote that was popular by the Iraqi's during the mid 2000's, "first the little war, then the big war".

[840high]

4. ...+1

[leveymg]

5. $1000 says this wasn't with the approval of Damascus (or Moscow) and it won't have a good end.

Any takers?

[karynnj]

6. Mosul is in Iraq -- the permission should be from Iraq, not Russia or Syria - and this says they are

training Iraqis. I see this is a Turkish source - anyone know how trustworthy?

Though I have heard that Turkey is ok with Iraq's Kurds, not their own or the Syrian, but I would worry that they think Kurds their more dangerous foe compared to ISIS.

[leveymg]

7. Momentary lapse in geography of Mideast regime changes - Baghdad (and Tehran) won't like it, either.

There have been so many wars, and it's so Friday afternoon.

[lovuian]

13. I seriously doubt they have permission

Turkey looks like its taking over the area

[jpak]

8. Sorry - I don't believe this...

nope

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. *Turkey* has been training the *Kurdish* Peshmerga for 2.5 years? WTF?

But Turkey doesn't trust the Kurds. eg

On the outskirts of the Iraqi town of Makhmour on Sunday, two Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) soldiers stood guard outside a camp which has, over the years, twice become a ramshackle village of 12,000 refugees. It has provided sanctuary in Iraqi Kurdistan for Turkish Kurds who fled the worst days of Turkey’s internal conflict in the 1990s.

In the summer, the jihadists of Isis overran the camp – a warren of mud and stone houses. They were eventually ousted by Kurdish Peshmerga and PKK fighters, supported by US-led coalition air strikes.

Now, Kurds are again forced to flee, this time in the mountain villages under attack from Turkey’s air force. Images shared on social media over the weekend revealed the aftermath of one Turkish air strike on Zargali, around 80 miles away from Makhmour in northern Iraq. They show a man standing in ruins of a home. The floor is littered with broken cement blocks and a blanket barely conceals the burnt body of a woman.

Witnesses said that at least five villagers were killed in Zargali by Turkish jets targeting rebels from the PKK, whose bitter insurgency in Turkey for Kurdish rights has been reignited in recent days after a two-year ceasefire.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/kurdish-villagers-under-fire-in-pkk-controlled-iraq-say-turkey-is-no-different-from-isis-10433995.html

[MowCowWhoHow III]

11. It's a bit weird

Some troops do seem to be there; Tweets from Turkish CNN back up the story. Not 100% sure of Daily Sabah (but it did have more 'details'), same story on Sputnik News, which is also a bit dodgy.

[MowCowWhoHow III]

10. US Def Min officials:Aware of TR deployment to N.Iraq but it's not part of US-led coal. activities

#BREAKING US Def Min officials:Aware of TR deployment to N.Iraq but it's not part of US-led coal. activities-Reuters

https://twitter.com/CNNTURK_ENG/status/672890594579103744

[MowCowWhoHow III]

12. Iraqi government call on Turkey to "respect good neighbourly relations & withdraw from Iraq...

Definitely seems like Turkey is acting up again, and this from the nation that lost its shit over a 17s incursion.

Prime Minister's Media Office: The Iraqi government calls on Turkey to respect good neighbourly relations and to withdraw immediately from the Iraqi territory

It has been confirmed to us that Turkish troops numbering around one regiment armoured with tanks and artillery entered the Iraqi territory, and specifically the province of Nineveh claim that they are training Iraqi groups without the request or authorization from the Iraqi federal authorities and this is considered a serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty and does not conform with the good neighbourly relations between Iraq and Turkey.

The Iraqi authorities call on Turkey to respect good neighbourly relations and to withdraw immediately from the Iraqi territory.

Prime Minister's Media Office

http://pmo.iq/pme/press2015en/5-12-20151en.htm

[Aristus]

14. The vehicle pictured is not a tank. Looks more like some kind of armored personnel

carrier.

It has armor and tracks, but it's not used for aggressive ground attacks the way tanks are.