In 2019, 1,441 terrorists have been neutralized in the "Claw" series of operations, which started with Hakurk, continued with Sinat-Haftanin, expanded with Metina and Avaşin-Basyan, and continued with the Zap region.
Finally, Operation Claw-Sword was carried out against terrorist targets in northern Iraq and Syria by Air Forces Command elements.
Following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's statement that "a new security concept is being adopted in the fight against terrorism", terrorist nests in northern Iraq were dispersed in successive operations.
The first of these operations, called the "claw series", was carried out three years ago. On May 27, 2019, the button was pressed for the operation launched to destroy the caves and shelters used by the terrorist organization in the Hakurk region and to neutralize the terrorists.
Within the scope of the operation, commandos were landed in the target area, which was softened by the fire support vehicles of the Land Forces Command and the aircraft of the Air Forces Command, with an air attack operation.
After the determined targets were successfully taken under control, the new phase of the operation was started. Terror nests were shattered in the Claw-2 operation, which was carried out with the expansion of the ongoing operation area.
Mehmetçik neutralized 126 terrorists in Operation Claw-1 and 102 terrorists in Operation Claw-2. After the threat to border security from Hakurk was largely eliminated, the next target of the Turkish Armed Forces was the terrorist nests in the Sinat-Haftanin region.
TARGET IS GARA
While the commandos carried out a land infiltration operation to the regions determined within the scope of the operation, some commando units were landed in the region with helicopters. As a result of the operation, 228 terrorists were neutralized.
On February 10, 2021, the Turkish Armed Forces once again carried out a major operation against terrorist targets. An intense air operation was carried out after the terrorist organization, which suffered heavy losses as a result of the operations, was trying to re-establish shelters in some regions in northern Iraq.
As part of the operation called "Claw Eagle-2", targets used by terrorists in the Gara region were under intense fire. After hitting the targets with full accuracy in the air operation, land elements were landed in the region by helicopter. With the operation, a heavy blow was dealt to the presence of the terrorist organization in the region and 65 terrorists were neutralized.