The “Hürriyet” newspaper yesterday (19 December) quoted expert analyses which estimate that the four-hour fighter plane operations in Northern Iraq on Sunday cost Turkey around 20 million dollars.

Fuel, bombs, missiles 

The fuel for the planes cost around five million dollars, bombs around 13 million, and missiles around 2 million.

The article detailed the fuel costs for the different types of fighter planes and the Cobra helicopters used.

Calculating that 52 planes flew three sorties and each carried five tons worth of bombs each time, the article also listed the costs of the different types of bombs used.

Finally, the exact cost of the missile attacks following the air attacks was not known, but estimated at around 2 million dollars.

10 villages said to have been affected 

Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has reacted to the bombings, saying that 1,800 villagers from villages around Süleymaniye and Erbil in Northern Iraq have been displaced. They were forced to leave everything and move to other villages.

UNHCR spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen said in Geneva that 300 families, that is around 1,800 people, left everything behind and that aid has been sent into the area.

Ten villages are said to have been damaged by the bombings. One woman is reported to have been killed and at least six people wounded.

"We do not know if more people are being displaced. But, at least we are trying to help now the 1,800 people," she said. "The people moved to safer areas in the Governorate. They are now staying with families and friends. But, they are worried to stay much longer. They are afraid they cannot stay too longer. The winter has set in. The conditions are very harsh. The host families do not have a lot to help these people as well.”

A lot of livestock killed 

Van Genderen added, "The mukhtar (head of a local village) of one of the villages told us that six bridges had been destroyed which connect the villages with each other. Over 200 head of livestock have also been killed. Some of the families told us that they left behind members of their family in the affected villages as they could not leave the livestock that is still alive untended. A lack of pasture or space in other villages did not allow them to bring the livestock along and some of the village elders in the other villages did not want this extra livestock."

The UNHCR has been told that bombings continued in Sangasar Pishdar on Tuesday (18 December) and that more people were being displaced.

Following a request for help from the regional Kurdish government, the UNHCR has sent blankets, beds, stoves, jerry cans, and soap to the area.

Up to today, around 2.4 million Iraqis have been displaced. Around 2.2 million of them have been forced to move to neighbouring countries like Syria and Jordan. (TK/NZ/AG)