Turks send large force into Iraq - Updated
Turkish ground forces have rolled across the border into northern Iraq to target Kurdish rebels said to be sheltering there.
Thousands of soldiers are thought to be involved in the operation which, the army says, began on Thursday evening after an air and artillery bombardment.
Turkey promised its force would "return home in the shortest time possible after its goals have been achieved".
The US military says it believes the operation is "of limited duration".
But a US official quoted by Reuters news agency appeared to express concern about the scale of the Turkish operation.
Reports put the number of Turkish ground troops in Iraq at about 10,000, with many thousands more waiting on the border, which makes this incursion a good deal larger than any previous Turkish operation. It is also a bit unexpected given the lack of recent PKK attacks, meaning there is a not small chance that they'll catch the PKK off guard.
Of course, much will depend on how limited the "limited duration" turns out to be. The longer the Turks stay, and the more damage they do, the more likely that the pesh merga of the two major Iraqi Kurdish parties join in the fighting. Something to watch over the weekend.
Update:
Regarding the timing. I'm wondering if people are looking at this wrong. It may not be the recent non-attacks by the PKK we should be looking at, but the recent declaration of independence by another quasi-state, Kosovo, that has the Turks nervous.
