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Iran
- The Iranian regime intensified its crackdown on Kurdish teachers and activists that went on strike and held demonstrations to protest deteriorating living conditions in the country. Iranian authorities have now arrested dozens of protestors in Saqqez, Urmia, Sanandaj (Sena), and Kermanshah. That said, Iranian teachers were still holding anti-government protests as of Sunday. Meanwhile, Iranian security forces arrested a number of Kurdish activists, including Arshak Gonbadi in Urmia, Yousif Farjan, Ramazan Farjam, and Farzad Hajizadeh in Mako, and Mohammed Muradi in Sena. Many of the detained began hunger strikes, and the Iranian regime threatened to arrest more activists for anti-government posts on social media. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei blamed Iran’s “enemies” for the protests, which coincided with the Iranian rial plummeting to its lowest value ever.
Iraq
- The Iranian-backed parliamentary coalition known as the “Coordination Framework” responded to the mass resignation of Muqtada al Sadr’s bloc, the largest in Iraq’s Council of Representatives, by offering to form a new cabinet with the nation’s Sunni bloc and Kurdish parties. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Sunni bloc were once part of Sadr’s coalition and have yet to respond to the invitation, though KDP head Massud Barzani said, “Iraq is in crisis, and we are trying our best to get out of it because it is in the interest of the Kurdistan Region.” Concurrently, some observers have discussed the possibility of retaining the interim government and rerunning the election in 2023. It also remains unclear what Sadr’s next move will be. On another note, tensions remain high between Baghdad and Erbil concerning the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq’s ruling against the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) oil and gas law. Iraqi oil minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar reaffirmed “the decision of the Federal Court and all legal and constitutional legal procedures, including filing lawsuits against foreign companies operating in the Kurdistan Region.” The KRG reacted to Jabbar’s statement by filing a criminal case against him for pressuring oil companies and threatening to ban them from Iraq.
- The Turkish military struck several locations in Iraqi Kurdistan, including Kalar and the Yazidi town of Shingal. Turkish airstrikes in Shingal killed four people, including a child. A Turkish drone strike in Kalar destroyed a vehicle and killed four people, including the Deputy Vice President of the Joint Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), Farhad Shabli. UNICEF denounced the attacks, and several Syrian Kurdish sources claimed Shabli was in Iraqi Kurdistan to receive medical treatment.
Syria
- The AANES and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) condemned the death of Ferhad Shabli and described the Turkish attack on his vehicle as a “cowardly and treacherous operation.” The SDF also released a report claiming Turkey attacked cities and towns with “982 heavy artillery shells and internationally prohibited cluster munitions” during the first two weeks of June. Moreover, the al Hol camp administration warned another Turkish invasion of northern Syria would allow ISIS (Da’esh) to reorganize itself in the region and enable the escape of thousands of Da’esh terrorists currently housed in the facility. Turkey has repeatedly expressed plans to expand its “safe zone” in Syria’s Kurdish areas and intends to build hundreds of settlements for non-Kurdish Syrian refugees. Separately, Da’esh ambushed a bus in Raqqa on Monday, killing 11 Syrian Arab Army soldiers and two civilians. Lastly, the SDF reported at least three Da’esh terrorists, including a senior leader, escaped Raqqa’s central prison on Sunday.
- The al Qa’ida offshoot Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Turkish proxy Jabhat al Shamia (Levant Front) clashed in occupied Afrin. Rudaw reported that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham seized most of southern and western Afrin during the fighting.
Turkey
- Turkish police arrested dozens of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) members protesting the isolation of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan in Istanbul on June 12. Turkish security forces also arrested ten senior HDP members on June 16. At the same time, Ankara police detained a former HDP lawmaker named Turgut Öker after he returned to Turkey from his home in Germany. Lastly, Turkish police arrested a pregnant woman and her child for wearing a T-shirt featuring the likeness of jailed Kurdish lawmaker Selahattin Demirtas.