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Iran
- Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bombarded a mountainous area in Mariwan on Saturday, targeting Kurdish rebel groups. The shelling caused a forest fire that killed four Kurdish firefighters and environmental activists, who died fighting the blaze. Protests broke out in Mariwan, blaming the IRGC bombings for the activists’ deaths.
- The fate of Ramin Hossein Panahi, a Kurdish activist on death row in Iran, is unknown. The family is still actively engaged in fighting the death sentence, according to Ramin’s brother, Amjad, who said, “Ramin went on hunger strike, and at midnight he was taken to solitary confinement. They planned on executing him early in the morning [Monday.]” Inmates told Ramin’s family that he had been injured while being transferred to solitary, possibly ‘roughed up’ by guards. “We think that he may be in one of Tehran’s hospitals, but as of yet we don’t know his fate and whether or not he has been hanged…. We, as the family of Ramin, don’t know whether he is alive or dead.”
- On August 22, the Iranian regime border guards shot and killed a Kurdish border porter (Kolbar) on Iraqi Kurdistan -Iran border near Shno city. Kurpa news agency reported that the Kurdish man Tawhid Haghdar, 19, is from Doostan village in Salmas and his body has not been delivered to his family yet. In August of 2018 alone, 3 Kurdish Kolbars have been killed by the Iranian regime, and 18 so far this year. On the 25th, another Kolbar was killed by an exploding landmine in Penjwen, on the border between Iran and the Kurdistan region. Three others were injured. Locals say that the regime placed landmines as part of their crackdown on the Kurds, though leftovers from the Iran-Iraq war still pose a danger.
- A large fire sparked in hundreds of acres near two Kurdish villages in Sardasht city. According to Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK), the fire is still ongoing in Shinu and Bezileh of Sardasht city. The fire cause is unknown, however, several times the Iranian regime sets fire on the forest areas to prevent the Kurdish opposition groups hide in them.
Iraq
- Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture put on hold a decree that allows Arab families to settle on Kurds’ and Turkmen lands in Kirkuk. After October 16, 2017, when Iraqi forces and the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi took over Kirkuk, Rakan Saeed, the Baghdad-imposed acting governor of Kirkuk handed over 250,000 acres of land owned by Kurds and Turkmen to Arab settlers. The Ministry of Agriculture has created a committee to launch inquiries into the practice. If no agreement can be reached between the disputed lands’ owners, the agriculture ministry will completely annul Saeed’s decree.
- As Iraq tries to form a government, two major groups have met with the main Kurdish parties to convince them to join their coalition. In the first group is made of Sairoon, Nasr, Hikma, and Wataniya, who met with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Erbil. The other group is formed of State of Law (led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki) and al-Fatih. It is unclear yet which coalition Kurds will join, but it will doubtlessly be with whichever group offers the best assurance of meeting Kurdish goals, especially in regards to the disputed territories, for example, the possibility of Peshmerga returning to Kirkuk. In 2014, Peshmerga were stationed north of the city while the Iraqi army was south of the city and the local police were in charge of Kirkuk’s security.
- The four Kurdish parties that rejected the results of the Iraqi elections have formed a bloc in Iraqi parliament: the Islamic Union of Kurdistan (KIU), Gorran (Change) Movement, Islamic Group of Kurdistan (Komal), and Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ) formed their coalition based on “serving the public’s interests, cooperation, and defending the constitutional rights of the citizens of Kurdistan Region,” according Gorran representative to the joint committee, Kawa Mohammad. Meanwhile, it is unclear if Kurdistan’s own elections, scheduled for September 30, will be postponed.
Syria
- During a surprise visit to the Kurdish region of Syria, US diplomat and former ambassador to Bahrain, William Roebuck stated that US forces are, “prepared to stay here, as the president has made clear, to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS” and “the withdrawal of Iranian forces and their proxies as well”. The exact amount of US personnel currently in Syria is unknown, however in December of 2017, the last time the Pentagon released its official numbers the last time the Pentagon released its official numbers of troops deployed to Iraq and Syria, there were 2,000 soldiers operating in Syria. The US delegation is set to visit the eastern region of Deir el-Zour later this week.
- Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Shia fundamentalist militant group, Hezbollah, has issued a warning to the Kurds and their allies in Syria. He cautioned that the United States would “sell out” their temporary allies in Syria when their usefulness runs out. Nasrallah further encouraged the Kurds to continue with attempts to negotiate with the Damascus regime, who are supported by Hezbollah. The group has anywhere between 7,000 to 10,000 fighters currently deployed in Syria, supplanting the Assad regime’s forces in campaigns against rebel groups and ISIS.
- The Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM), the political and social body which governs the Rojava region of Syria, began its 3rd congress on Monday in Qamishli. Saleh Moslem, the Foreign Relations representative of the movement stated that the congress would be one of restructuring and reconsideration of the current political structure. Moslem reaffirmed that the goal of the TEV-DEM and the Rojava revolution is to “organize civilian society” as part of a broader “democratic movement”. It is unclear at the moment what kind of restructuring the body plans to engage in, however it likely centers around the evolving relationship between the Kurdish region and the central government in Damascus, as well as governance of newly liberated areas in the east and south.
Turkey
- Former Turkish opposition lawmaker Leyla Birlik has fled Turkey and applied for asylum in Greece. Birlik was a deputy of the Turkish National Assembly representing the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), until her arrest in November 2016, for allegedly distributing terrorist propaganda. She is one many opposition figures and members who have fled following the attempted coup in 2016. The subsequent purges of government, media, and society have left President Erdogan with a strong grip on the country most major institutions of law and justice.
- On Sunday, the 26th of August, Turkish President Recep Erdogan gave a speech in which he lauded the establishment of “security and peace” under Turkish occupation in northern Syria. He expounded on the point saying that, “god willing” the same kind of peace could be brought to Iraq and the rest of Syria. This comes at a time when Turkey has launched two cross-border military operations in Northern Syria and Iraq, the former of which has been partially occupied by Turkish backed rebel groups since late March.
- Across Turkey, ecologists have gathered to protest the deliberate burning of ancient forests in the primarily Kurdish, Dersim region, by the Turkish military, as part of ongoing operations against Kurdish militants. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has been conducting guerrilla warfare activities from the mountains and hills of the southwest for years now, however pressure from Ankara has ramped up in recent months. Locals have protested that the continued bombing of the region has forced many to evacuate their homes and communities, for fear of the encroaching forest fires. Turkish government forces have prevented local groups from extinguishing fires, even when such infernos threaten entire villages.