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Iran
- The Iranian regime killed two more Kurdish border porters (Kolbars) last week. On Thursday, Iranian border guards ambushed a group of Kolbars in Kermanshah’s Nowsud District and killed a Kurdish man named Wazir Mohammadi. Iranian border guards also shot and killed a Kolbar named Riza Ismael in West Azerbaijan’s Chaldoran County on Friday. 41 Kolbars have been killed, and at least 100 have been wounded in 2020 so far.
- The Iranian regime continued its campaign against Kurdish political activity by detaining and sentencing a number of activists to prison last week. Marivan’s Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced a Kurdish labor activist named Bakhtyar Rahimi to two years in prison for “collusion” against the Islamic Republic. In Sanandaj, a Kurdish man named Tariq Rahimpour was sentenced to one year in prison. Rahimpour was charged with “cooperation with a political party” against the state and also received a suspended four-year sentence. Likewise, four more Kurdish activists were sentenced in Sanandaj, with Hadi Kamangar receiving a one-year sentence, Fazel Qoitasi receiving a two-month sentence, and Amani Qubrbani and Sirwan Qubani each receiving three-month sentences. Concurrently, the Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) reported that Iranian intelligence officers (Ettela’at) have been pressuring the family of detained activist Afsheen Islamullah. Islamullah, a US resident, was arrested during a visit to Iran last month and has been denied contact with his family.
Iraq
- Iranian UAVs struck several Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) positions in northeastern Iraqi Kurdistan on Monday and caused property damage. The Iranian regime had previously mobilized troops last month and coordinated with Turkey to launch attacks on Kurdish opposition groups near the Iranian and Turkish borders with Iraq. Meanwhile, Turkey continued its incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan and carried out additional airstrikes targeting alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions. That said, Turkish military operations in Iraq’s Kurdish region have killed dozens of civilians and displaced thousands.
- The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) allowed international flights to the Kurdistan region to resume last week, though restrictions remain on passengers from certain countries due to continuing concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Turkey also suspended its flights to Iraqi Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq until September 1 for undisclosed reasons. Iraqi Kurdistan’s coronavirus numbers now stand at 14,816 confirmed cases, 574 deaths, and 9,413 recoveries.
- The KRG and the Government of Iraq (GOI) commemorated the 2014 Yazidi Genocide perpetrated by ISIS (Da’esh) terrorists last week. Meanwhile, the Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert called for, “The Governments in Baghdad and Erbil to urgently resolve this file, placing Sinjar’s interest first and foremost.”
- A terrorist organization known as the White Flags released a video depicting the beheading of a Kurdish man, Assad Ali, who was abducted by the group in 2019. The White Flags emerged from Da’esh and ideologically aligned groups like Ansar al Islam in 2017 and have been active in Iraq’s “Disputed Territories.”
Syria
- A US oil firm named Delta Crescent Energy signed a contract with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to develop oilfields in SDF-administered territory. The contract was approved by the US government, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in response to Senator Lindsey Graham, claimed, “The deal took a little longer … than we had hoped, and now we’re in implementation.” The Assad regime quickly denounced the agreement, which was supported by Syrian Kurds.
- The total number of coronavirus cases in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) reached 30 last week. AANES officials have responded to the spread of the virus by implementing additional countermeasures like curfews and restricting travel to and from Iraq and Assad regime-controlled territory.
- Turkish-backed groups continued to attack Kurdish villages west of Giri Spi near the borders of the “safe zone” created by Turkey’s invasion of northeastern Syria last week. The attacks injured one civilian and damaged several houses. At the same time, an Arab sheikh and neighborhood leader named Al al Waies was assassinated by unknown gunmen in Deir Ez Zor Governorate’s Dahla town.
Turkey
- Imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan’s attorneys submitted another visitation request to the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office last week. Ocalan’s attorneys have filed hundreds of requests for meetings with their client but routinely receive no response from Turkish courts. Likewise, Ocalan’s family last visited him in March 2020.
- Turkey continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, which has now caused at least 5,765 deaths in the country. On Monday, a Turkish official warned that the pandemic could get “much worse” in southern Turkey, which is where the nation’s Kurdish region is.