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Turkey hammers Kurdish rebel targets in Iraq

Turkey has sent in special forces to fight the Kurdistan Workers Party in Iraq’s north, putting its soldiers on the ground in the third foreign country this year.
A member of Turkish police special forces stands guard in Azaz, Syria January 24, 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal - RC1CA41F7370

ISTANBUL — Turkey intensified military strikes against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq on Wednesday, helicoptering in commandos and dropping bombs from the sky in its biggest operation on Iraqi soil in years to counter what it says are threats emanating from across the border.

The incursion is part of a far more assertive Turkish military policy that also has forces on the ground in Libya and Syria, revealing its go-it-alone inclination to tackle perceived threats that has increasingly put it at odds with traditional allies in NATO.

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