842
Iran
- The Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ground Forces (IRGCGF), Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, warned Iraqi Kurds to stay away from the bases and offices of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties. Pakpour also claimed previous Iranian warnings to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) regarding the activities of opposition groups on Iraqi soil had gone “unheeded.” Many Kurds are interpreting Pakpour’s recent statements as an indication Iran plans to carry out further operations on Iraqi territory. In 2018, the Iranian regime launched a ballistic missile strike on the headquarters of two Kurdish opposition parties in Koya that killed at least 18 and wounded more than 50.
- Iranian security forces showcased the regime’s commitment to extinguishing Kurdish political rights by arresting Mohammed Rasaie in Marivan, Jabar Pishahang in Oshnavieh (Shinno), and five members of a family in Nagadeh. The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights claimed Iranian authorities shot and wounded two members of the family detained during the Nagadeh raid, Assad Ramin and Dawood Rahimi. At the same time, a criminal court in Bokan affirmed a Kurdish activist named Jalal Wafaie’s five-month prison sentence.
- Iranian border guards shot and killed a Kurdish border porter (kolbar) named Mohammad Abdullahzada between Haji Omeran and Piranshahr on Sunday. Iranian authorities also wounded two kolbars near Baneh on Saturday. Four additional kolbars were injured on Saturday when their vehicle flipped over near Salasi Bawajani.
Iraq
- ISIS (Da’esh) intensified the tempo of their attacks in the “Disputed Territories” last week. On Saturday, Da’esh terrorists sprung a complex ambush near Rashad, south of Kirkuk, that killed 13 Iraqi police officers, wounded at least five, and destroyed three police vehicles. A second Da’esh attack on an army checkpoint southeast of Mosul killed three Iraqi soldiers and wounded one on Sunday. Concurrently, Da’esh operatives kidnapped a resident of Kirkuk Governorate’s Sha’al village on Wednesday. In response to Da’esh’s recent mini-offensive, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al Khadimi chaired an “urgent” National Security Council meeting and was quoted as saying, “Sometimes mismanagement and negligence of military leaders results in some security breaches.”
- On Sunday, the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) announced the arrest of a five-man Da’esh cell in Erbil. According to the KRSC statement and the terrorists’ confession, the cell, which included two members under the age of 18, was organized by Da’esh’s intelligence organization (Emni) and planned to smuggle IEDs into Erbil for use against foreigners and crowded venues like markets.
- The mayor of Duhok Governorate’s Amedi District, Warshen Salam, informed Rudaw that Turkish artillery fire wounded two off-duty Peshmerga members, Haji Abdullah and Sabir Abdullah, while they were fishing near Shiladeze on Thursday. Meanwhile, a Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) media outlet released footage of Turkish attacks on caves and claimed the Turks were using chemical weapons. Furthermore, a Turkish drone strike on the Makhmour refugee camp caused material damage. Turkey’s ongoing invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan has killed dozens of civilians, displaced thousands, and increasingly looks like it will result in a permanent Turkish military presence in Iraq.
- Several lawmakers from Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), visited Iraq’s Kurdish region and met with senior KRG officials and representatives from Kurdish political parties, including former President of Kurdistan Region and current leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Masoud Barzani. A KRG statement claimed the two sides discussed ways to strengthen relations between Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey, while the CHP said the visit was intended to bolster its Middle East Peace and Cooperation Organization’s (OBİT) efforts to establish channels of dialogue with Turkey’s neighbors and achieve peace in the Middle East. At the same time, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Jordan, Abdul Muneim al-Odat, traveled to Erbil and met with several Kurdish officials. Lastly, the European Union’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles, intends to visit Iraqi Kurdistan this week.
Syria
- Turkey and its Islamist proxies launched a barrage of attacks on Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-controlled territories near Ain Essa, Manbij, Giri Spi, and Zargan that injured at least one civilian. An IED explosion in Afrin killed another civilian and wounded several more. Moreover, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported Turkish proxies in occupied Afrin are still looting Kurdish-owned homes and arbitrarily arresting civilians. Turkey and its proxies also remain committed to changing the demography of the area and are building new settlements on lands previously owned by displaced Kurds.
- A Da’esh IED killed a 14-year-old boy and injured two of his siblings on a farm in Deir Ez Zor Governorate’s al Azba town. Da’esh operatives on motorcycles then killed an SDF member in Darnaj on Monday. That said, Kurdish security forces (Asayesh) captured a Da’esh terrorist east of Deir Ez Zor during a joint operation with the US-led coalition.
- Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) Co-chair Ilham Ahmed gave an interview to al Sharq al Awsat and called for Syrian opposition parties to “engage in efforts to unify the ranks of the political opposition and form a political opposition body that represents everyone.” Ahmed went on to say, “The US presence in Syria guarantees a political solution.”
Turkey
- A Turkish armored vehicle struck and killed a 7-year-old Kurdish boy named Mihraç Miroğlu in Adil city on Saturday. A similar incident in 2017 killed an 85-year-old woman in Lice, but a Turkish court forgave the offender when he agreed to pay a fine of 2,255 USD.
- The Constitutional Court of Turkey approved the People’s Democratic Party’s (HDP) request for an additional 30 days to prepare its defense against the Turkish government’s closure case that was originally scheduled for September 7. The HDP is facing an 843-page indictment filed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), that would implement a ban on 451 politicians and freeze the party’s assets.
- Turkish police broke up several organizations’ attempt to hold a “peace rally” commemorating World Peace Day in Istanbul by arresting more than 30 people, including senior HDP members. Turkish police also arrested a Kurdish musician named Neset Güçmen in Diyarbakir (Amed). Lastly, a prosecutor in Amed demanded a 30-year prison sentence for former HDP lawmaker Çağlar Demirel. Demirel has remained imprisoned since receiving a 90-month sentence for “membership of a terrorist organization” in December 2016.