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Iran
- The Iranian regime continued its crackdown on Kurdish activism by arresting more Kurds last week. Iranian authorities arrested a Kurdish man named Sardar Menapour in Piranshahr and accused him of “membership of a Kurdish opposition party.” Iranian authorities also arrested two brothers, Salar Gazali and Saman Gazali, in Mehabad on Wednesday and charged them with “cooperation with Kurdish political parties.” Simultaneously, the Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) reported Iranian intelligence officers (Ettela’at) detained Ali Lirawi, a human rights activist and head of a local Islamic council, in Lorestan and accused him of disseminating “propaganda against the state.” On another note, the Iranian regime granted the Kurdish environmental activist Afsheen Sheikhollah bail on Thursday after detaining him for three months. Sheikhollah is a US resident and was initially arrested when he visited relatives in Iran. An Iranian court in Dehgolan (Dewalan) also reduced the sentence of a Kurdish activist named Sabir Qaderi, who was charged with “membership of a Kurdish party,” from six years to three years, though the fate of another Kurdish man named Jafar Hassanzada remains unknown since his arrest in August.
- Iranian border guards wounded two Kurdish border porters (Kolbars) in the rural areas surrounding Baneh on Wednesday and Thursday. Also, on Thursday, Iranian authorities severely injured another Kolbar named Rahim Erachi south of Baneh in Hangazhall village. Moreover, the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights confirmed a 22-year-old Kolbar named Ibrahim Rasolian was wounded near Sardasht on Saturday and transferred to a hospital in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaymaniyah Governorate. The Iranian regime has intensified its campaign targeting the Kolbars in 2020, and 50 Kolbars have been killed and another 150 wounded since the beginning of the year.
- Amnesty International responded to an Iranian court’s decision to uphold Kurdish political prisoner Haider Qurbani’s death sentence by calling for the regime to halt the execution and grant Qurbani a fair trial. Qurbani was sentenced to death for “armed rebellion against the state.” That said, both Qurbani and Amnesty International have denied the charges, and the latter released a statement claiming, “His conviction is based on torture-tainted confessions obtained while he was forcibly disappeared.”
Iraq
- The Turkish military escalated its continuing operations in Iraqi Kurdistan and appears poised to invade additional parts of the region. Air and artillery strikes hit the Batifa District last week, and Rudaw released a report claiming Turkey established new military posts near Zakho. At the same time, the attacks continue despite Turkey’s claim it ended military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan, with airstrikes and assassinations hitting the Yazidi town of Shengal.
- The US responded to continuing Iranian-backed militia attacks on its Baghdad embassy by informing the Government of Iraq (GOI) of closure plans. Both the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal confirmed the US’s plans were communicated in direct talks with Iraqi officials that included the US demanding the GOI take a strong stance against the militias and ensure the safety of its diplomatic mission. Unconfirmed reports also suggest that the US has drawn up plans to move its diplomatic staff to Erbil, which hosts one of the largest US consulates in the Middle East.
- The security situation in Iraq’s “Disputed Territories” remains fragile due to Iraqi forces’ continuing failure to secure the region. Iraq’s Minister of Defense Najah as Shammari visited Khanagin, which has been plagued by an increasing number of ISIS (Da’esh) attacks, and met with security forces and Iranian-backed militias stationed in the region. Meanwhile, the Kakai Kurds continue to be victimized by Da’esh operatives exploiting the region’s security vacuum. At the same time, an employee of the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraqi (UNAMI) was found stabbed to death at Kirkuk Airport. Finally, Iraqi security forces arrested a senior Da’esh operative in Kirkuk’s Pardi sub-district and seized a large number of small arms, mortars, and rockets.
Syria
- Russia responded to US officials’ visit to the Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (AANES) by pressuring the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to prevent US military patrols near Tal Tamer and the M4 Motorway. The Russians also threatened to withdraw from the area and greenlight additional Turkish incursions into northeastern Syria. Simultaneously, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem attacked the SDF in a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) speech for being “separatists that conspire against the unity of Syria and its people.” On Monday, AANES’s foreign relations department released a statement responding to Muallem’s accusations that read, “The Autonomous Administration project is a national project and does not affect the unity of Syria socially or geographically, and this is the opposite of what al Muallem claims.” The AANES statement also rebuked the Syrian regime for its policies that led to the destruction of Syria.
- A senior Kurdish politician announced the AANES would follow-up on an initial agreement reached by Syria’s Kurdish parties in US-sponsored unity talks by sharing administrative duties with its former opposition, the Kurdish National Council (ENKS), until elections are held. The ENKS was backed by Turkey, which halted earlier Kurdish unity talks, and has now agreed to return to the region and share governing duties with the AANES.
- On Friday, the SDF, backed by the US-led coalition, launched a military operation targeting Da’esh operatives on the Iraqi-Syrian border. The operation began in Deir Ez Zor Governorate’s Wadi al-‘Aqiq (Garnet Valley) and intends to cripple Da’esh’s ability to carry out further operations in the region.
- Russia and Turkey resumed joint patrols in Kobane last week. The two nations also resumed joint patrols near Idlib.
Turkey
- The Turkish government began one of its largest anti-Kurdish political campaigns on Friday and arrested 20 senior Kurdish politicians, including co-mayor of Kars, Ayhan Bilgen, former lawmakers Sirri Süreyya Önder, Ayla Akat Ata, Altan Tan, and Emine Ayna, and foreign affairs spokesperson Nazmi Gür. The Turkish government accused the arrested politicians of participating in protests in 2014, where Turkish police killed at least 12 people, and issued 62 more warrants against members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Meanwhile, some of the detained HDP members launched a hunger strike and HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan held a press conference in which he denounced the arrests and described them as an “assault on democracy and suppression of elementary rights that passes almost without comment.” Simultaneously, the governor of Van sought to impede further protests by imposing a two-week ban on public events, while several European political parties condemned Turkey’s continuing aggression against the HDP and the Kurds.