Turkey Bombs ISIS and Kurds

The government of Turkey has waded deeper into the complex battlefields of Iraq and Syria, sending its warplanes and ground troops to attack positions of both the Islamic State and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a Kurdish militant group labeled terrorists by the Turkish government and its Western allies.

The New York Times reports that Turkish warplanes attacked ISIS positions in Syria and PKK camps in northern Iraq. The number of casualties from the strikes is unknown.

The government has also arrested nearly 600 people it accuses of working with or having some sort of relationship to ISIS. It is the largest crackdown against the group since it rose to prominence. ISIS has long used Turkey as a means of getting fighters and supplies into the regions it controls in Syria and governments in the West have previously accused Turkey of not doing enough to suppress this support network.

The attacks against ISIS were retaliation for a suicide bombing in the border town of Suruc that killed 32 people who had gathered to protest the government's indifference and alleged support for the group. The Turkish government is currently prosecuting police and legal officials who stopped weapons shipments into Syria organized by the Turkish CIA, MiT.

The decision to attack the PKK most likely ended the ceasefire between the group and the government that was reached in 2013. As the PKK has waged a guerilla campaign against the Turkish government from within Turkey for decades now, it is unclear how the Turkish government plans to combat both the PKK in Turkey and ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

Since the Suruc bombing, there have been scattered attacks on police and military targets in predominantly Kurdish areas, and with the raids on PKK camps, it is likely such attacks will only increase in intensity and frequency.