Deadly Turkish Attack on Kurdish Resort // FAI ONLINE

What began as a day of family fun ended in a nightmare last Wednesday, after the Turkish army shelled a popular tourist resort in Iraqi Kurdistan, killing at least nine civilians and injuring twenty-three. Located in the mountainous northern region of Duhok Province near the city of Zakho, the Barkh resort is a popular destination for Iraqis seeking to escape the heat during the summer months. The mayor of Zakho reported that all of the dead were Arabs from Iraq proper, including three women and two children. Amateur video posted to social media showed a distraught mother handing the lifeless body of her infant child to a policeman outside a hospital after the incident, while press photos and video were published showing injured men, women and children lying on hospital beds in bloody clothing. Wednesday’s attack on Barkh was the third such strike on the resort in recent years.

At least five 155 mm shells were fired into the resort’s outdoor recreation area, almost certainly from Turkish Panter howitzer canons. Turkey denied responsibility for the attack and demanded proof, suggesting that the Kurdish PKK militia was responsible for the attack instead. An Iraqi official reacted to the Turkish denials by describing the evidence found at the scene. "Certainly, the attack was launched from Turkish territory…[it] was caused by 155 mm artillery shells. The resort is 10 kilometers from the Turkish border…No armed faction operating inside Iraq has this kind of cannon, but it is an essential part of the armament of the Turkish army.” Howitzer cannons are a staple of Turkey’s ongoing military offensives in both Iraq and Syria against Kurdish militias that it considers to be “terrorist organizations.”

As funerals were held across Iraq for the dead on Thursday, shock and anger were expressed in both the streets of Iraq and in the halls of international diplomacy. An angry mob broke through the security cordon around the International “Green Zone” in Central Baghdad, massing in front of the Turkish embassy, chanting, and burning Turkish flags. Protesters also descended on Turkish diplomatic offices in the southern cities of Najaf and Karbala, located in the heartland of the Shi’a Muslim world and the center of Iranian influence inside Iraq.

Iraq’s parliamentary cabinet met for an emergency meeting, releasing a series of resolutions which included a demand for all Turkish forces to immediately withdraw from Iraqi territory. Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi recalled his government’s charge d’affaires from Turkey for consultation, stating that “Turkish forces [have] committed [a] blatant violation of the sovereignty of Iraq.” Without naming Turkey as the offender, other Arab and Western governments released press statements condemning the deadly attack and reaffirming support for Iraq’s territorial integrity.

The PKK militia also responded to the shelling of the Barkh resort, conducting two drone strikes on Turkey’s Bamarni base near Duhok within 48 hours. Explosions were reported at the base, but there was no immediate report of Turkish casualties. Bamarni is the largest of an estimated 27 Turkish military bases inside Iraqi Kurdistan. The Turkish military responded in kind with a strike on an alleged PKK outpost near the town of Amedi, just 85 kilometers (53 miles) east of Zakho in Duhok Province.

As incidents of war, strife, earthquakes and famines continue to mount across the Middle East, we would ask the Maranatha global community to continue in prayer for unreached people groups across the region. We pray for the schemes of the enemy to be restrained, for divine wisdom to be granted to international leaders, and for each calamity and catastrophe to open “wide, effectual doors” for laborers of the Mideast harvest fields.

Maranatha!