The Press Centre of the People’s Defence Forces (HPG) issued a statement providing information about the ongoing war in the guerrilla-held Medya Defence Zones in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq). The statement includes information on guerrilla actions against the Turkish invasion forces on the western front of the Zap region and on attacks by the Turkish army on 27 and 28 May.
The balance sheet covering 27 and 28 May was announced as follows:
“Şehîd Delîl Western Zap region;
– On 27 May at 10:30, the invaders in Girê FM Resistance Area were struck by the guerrillas with heavy weapons. This action was carried out by our YJA Star (Free Women’s Troops) forces.
– On 27 May at 10:30, the invaders in Girê Cûdî Resistance Area were struck by the guerrillas with heavy weapons.
– On 27 May at 08:25, the invaders in Girê Amediyê Resistance Area were struck by the guerrillas with heavy weapons. Simultaneously, our YJA Star forces also targeted the invaders with medium automatic weapons.
– On 28 May at 13:45, the invaders who attempted to install a radar system in Girê Amediyê Resistance Area were struck by the guerrillas and 1 radar system was destroyed.
Attacks carried out by the occupying Turkish army with banned explosives;
– On 27 and 28 May, our tunnels in the Girê FM Resistance Area of the Şehîd Delîl Western Zap region were bombed 63 times with toxic chemical gases and 3 times with prohibited explosives.
– On 27 and 28 May, our tunnels in Girê Cûdî Resistance Area in Şehîd Delîl Western Zap region were bombed 12 times by drones loaded with explosives.
– On 28 May, our tunnels in Girê Amediyê Resistance Area in Şehîd Delîl Western Zap region were bombed 1 time with prohibited explosives.
Attacks carried out by the occupying Turkish army;
– On 27 and 28 May, Turkish warplanes carried out 13 attacks, targeting the Karox area in the Qendîl region one time; the areas of Sinînê, Lolan, Girê Berbizina, Girê Şehîd Hawar in the Xakurkê region 6 times; the Şehîd Îbrahîm Resistance Area in the Zap region one time; the areas of Deşta Kafya and Zêvkê in the Garê region 4 times; the Bêşîlî Resistance Area in the Metîna region one time.
– On 28 May, Şêlazê Resistance Area in Metîna region was bombed by attack helicopters.”
This report also confirms what Greenreport.it, an Italian environmentalist newspaper inspired by the principles of ecological economics, published about the chemical attacks carried out by the Turkish state against the guerrillas.
The article by Umberto Mazzantini on Greenreport, which is the first of its kind in Italy both in print and online, draws attention to the chemical attacks of the Turkish state and the international silence against it.
The article on the Greenreport.it website, linked through a partnership with the online version of La Repubblica newspaper since 2011, stated that “While people are dying in Gaza and Ukraine, we have quickly forgotten about the Kurds who have been killed for dozens of years in the name of the same freedom for which other peoples also die.”
Umberto Mazzantini summarised the hypocrisy and crimes of the Turkish state as follows: “The wars in Ukraine and Palestine are an opportunity for several countries to continue, out of public interest, their dirty wars. Turkey, a NATO country which mediates between Russia and Ukraine, which condemns Israel’s genocide and illegal bombing of the Gaza Strip, which calls for respect for the Palestinians‘ right to independence and two states, does the opposite when it comes to the Kurdish people: it persecutes and imprisons them in its own country; it attacks, occupies, bombs and kills them in Syria and Iraq; it uses the same prohibited weapons that others use against other peoples and claims to respect the right of others to self-determination.”
Mazzantini drew attention to the images shared by the YJA Star (Free Women’s Troops) of chemical explosives used against guerrillas on 27 May, saying: “Kurdish fighters showed what they said were ‘images of thermobaric bombs and heavy bombs seized from the Turkish army, which were lowered into the fighters’ war tunnels to eliminate them’. The fighters managed to open several explosive devices and show their contents.”
“The Kurdish guerrillas – hailed as freedom fighters when it came to defeating the army of the Daesh Black Caliphate and now forgotten and betrayed – said they could not define exactly what the composition of the explosives was, but pointed out that ‘the smell is very strong’. Among the unexploded bombs used by the Turks against the YJA-Star and other Kurdish fighters is also a heavy bomb, containing a large amount of chemical substance,” the article said.
The Kurdish fighter who showed the Turkish bombs explained that it is not possible to give any precise indication of the substance contained: “You can see brown, resinous bits mixed with white powder. It is possible that they are mixed poisons. Chemical weapons are regularly used in guerrilla defence zones. The explosions emit large amounts of white smoke or large mushrooms similar to atomic smoke. Chemical weapons are among the internationally banned weapons.”