ANKARA (Xinhua) – Turkish forces
 “neutralized” over 3,000 “terrorists” in cross-border military operations in Syria and Iraq, over the past year, the military said on Thursday.
At a press briefing in the capital Ankara, Defense Ministry spokesperson Zeki Akturk said that Turkish forces in 2024 “neutralized” 3,070 “terrorists”, including 1,579 in northern Syria and 1,491 in northern Iraq.
Turkish authorities use the term “neutralize” to imply the individuals in question surrendered, were killed, or captured.
He added that a total of 49 “terrorists” were “neutralized” in the past week alone. However, he did not specify the groups they were affiliated with.
Turkish forces “detected caves of terrorists with multiple sections containing weapons, ammunition, and living supplies” within the Claw-Lock operation region in northern Iraq, according to Akturk.
Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock in northern Iraq in 2022 to dismantle hideouts of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish government.
In northern Syria, Turkey has carried out multiple military operations targeting the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers the Syrian branch of the PKK.
These campaigns, Turkey says, aim to eliminate security threats emanating from the region.