Iraqi Shi’ite Militias Warn Turkey’s Troops Will Be a Target Around Mosul

Iraqi PM Insisted Troops Unwelcome, But Turkey Insists They'll Be Involved

Ongoing tensions between Iraq’s government and Turkey over whether or not Turkish troops, who are in Iraq without permission, will be allowed to participate in the invasion of Mosul look to be coming to a head, with a Shi’ite militia warning that Turkish troops are going to be a target.

An official for Iraq’s Asaib ahl al-Haq warned Turkey doesn’t get to make the decision of whether or not they get to participate in the invasion, and warned Turkish troops involved will be treated the same as the ISIS fighters the invasion is targeting.

The dispute over the Turkish troops in Iraq has been ongoing for a solid year, with the troops initially showing up to train Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Turkey claims the deal was reached with the knowledge of the Baghdad government, but they’ve denied this and repeatedly demanded the Turkish troops leave.

While this has been an ongoing dispute since, it became an even bigger one when Turkish President Erdogan announced that the troops are going to join the invasion of Mosul, once again bringing the issue to the forefront.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.