Islamic Republic Intensifying Attacks On Kurdish Targets In Iran And Iraq
The Islamic Republic’s military crackdown on Kurdish regions can be construed as a new episode of escalating the unrest beyond Iran’s borders.
The Islamic Republic’s military crackdown on Kurdish regions can be construed as a new episode of escalating the unrest beyond Iran’s borders.
In the past few days, the Islamic Republic has intensified its repression on Kurdish-majority cities and towns in western provinces of the country following reports that parts of some small towns have fallen into the people’s hands. The majority of Iran's 10 million Kurds live in the western parts of the country. It has also launched repeated attacks against Iranian Kurds sheltering in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The regime’s security forces – particularly those trained to quell riots – used to be focused in the capital Tehran and larger cities, creating the opportunity for the residents of towns with a population of 10,000 to 200,000 to outnumber the agents of repression.
Last week, security forces, who seemed to have started losing their foothold in the cities of Izeh in Khuzestan province and Malekshahr in Esfahan province, went on shooting sprees on motorbikes at the protesters, killing at least two young boys in Malekshahr and several others in Izeh, including a 10-year-old kid. The child -- Kian Pirfalak -- immediately became a new icon of the protests. The attacks were so brutal that the Islamic Republic opted not to take responsibility and claimed terrorist has suddenly showed up and fired at both the protesters and security forces. However, the infanticide backfired and fueled more protests in other small cities.
Then came the predicament in Mahabad, a small Kurdish-majority city in West Azarbaijan province, where residents barricaded streets and moved in tactical formations to take control of the city. The Islamic Republic deployed military vehicles and cracked down on the protesters. The clashes originally erupted in the city on Friday when security forces opened fire at people who had gathered for the funeral services of some protesters killed earlier in the week. Esmail Moloudi was a young protester who was shot dead during ceremonies for the 40th day after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. Five more protesters were killed in his funeral late in October and ever since the city has been a scene of regular clashes.
Jalal Mahmoudzadeh, the representative of Mahabad in the parliament, said on Monday that at least 11 people were killed during the past few days, noting that several of those killed were not even among the protesters.
Following the escalation in Mahabad, other cities across the country and in particular Kurdish cities held protests in solidarity with Mahabad. In addition to Kermanshah, Paveh, Kamyaran and Saqqez – the hometown of Mahsa Amini -- people in the capital Tehran, the religious city of Mashhad, Ardabil, and Orouniyeh (Urmia) as well as Kerman and Esfahan in central Iran poured onto streets to express their support for the protesters in Kurdish cities.
The Islamic Republic also renewed its attacks on Kurdish targets in the Iraqi Kurdistan region on the pretext that separatist Kurdish groups are fanning the flames of conflict in Iranian Kurdish cities by supporting the protesters.
On Monday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, or IRGC, said it targeted Kurdish military bases in Erbil and Sulaimaniyah, alleging factions there are fomenting unrest in Iran.
Late on Sunday, the IRGC once again launched missile attacks against the positions of the dissident Iranian Kurdish group, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan in Erbil. At least three missiles hit the party's positions including a civilian hospital, causing casualties. The IRGC also targeted the Komala Party's positions in Iraqi Kurdistan's Sulaymaniyah with drones, the party's secretary general confirmed to Iran International.
Calling on the Islamic Republic to stop this campaign, the Kurdish regional government said, “The repeated Iranian violations affecting the sovereignty of Iraq and the Kurdistan region of Iraq are unjustified and constitute a flagrant violation of international norms and good neighborly relations.” The Iraqi parliament is set to discuss the growing threats to the Iraqi territory on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Turkey has also stepped up attacks on Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria, a week after a bombing in Istanbul which it blames on Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, as well as Syrian Kurdish groups affiliated with it, an allegation denied by those groups. The new airstrikes -- dubbed Operation Claw-Sword – hit Kurdish bases which Ankara claims were being used to launch attacks on Turkey. On Saturday, the Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria called on residents to unite against any possible attack by Turkey, warning that such an offensive would lead to a long war.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said in a statement Monday that Iran's renewed attacks and the violation of Iraq's national sovereignty must be stopped immediately, noting that such violent actions increase the tension in the region and would lead to a tragedy.
Last week, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, himself an IRGC commander, held a conversation with his Turkish counterpart, voicing support for “a stable and strong Turkey.” He said that Iran and Turkey have common enemies, calling for more serious cooperation in dealing with “those who make the two countries unsafe.”
Following violent clashes in the city of Mahabad on Saturday, a small Kurdish-majority city in West Azarbaijan province, the people of other cities across the country – especially Kurdish ones -- held protests in solidarity with Mahabad. The majority of Iran's 10 million Kurds live in the western parts of the country.
In addition to Kurdish cities such as Kermanshah, Paveh,Kamyaranand Saqqez – the hometown of Mahsa Amini -- people in the capital Tehran, the religious cityof Mashhad,Ardabil, and Orouniyeh (Urmia) as well as Kerman and Esfahan in central Iran poured onto streets to express their support for the protesters in Kurdish cities.
Videos on social media show a convoy of military vehicles with heavily armed troops in Mahabad while the sounds of heavy weaponry and incessant shooting can be heard. According to reports, military helicopters also carried members of the Revolutionary Guard to quell the protests in the city while streets have started to look like a battlefield. The IRGC also confirmed "strengthening" its forces in the Kurdish regions to confront "terrorist separatist groups" in the area. "The security of the people is our red line ... and dealing decisively with terrorists is our mandate," a statement by state media said.
The clerical regime has been trying to blame “rioters”, terrorists” and “separatists” for the two-month-long uprising, while protesters act with national unity as their motto.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concerns on Sunday “that Iranian authorities are reportedly escalating violence against protesters, particularly in the city of Mahabad. We continue to pursue accountability for those involved, as we support the Iranian people.”
Prominent Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid, a powerful dissenting voice in the Shiite-ruled Islamic Republic, called on security forces to refrain from shooting at people in Mahabad, who are mainly Sunnis. "Disturbing news is emerging from the Kurdish areas, especially from Mahabad ... pressure and crackdown will lead to further dissatisfaction," he tweeted.
According to reports, at least six people were killed during Sunday clashes in Piranshahr, also in West Azarbaijan, Javanrud in Kermanshah province, and Sanandaj in Kordestan. Activist account 1500Tasvir said a 16-year-old student and a schoolteacher were killed in Javanrud.
Nationwide protests in the country were ignited by the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in mid-September while she was in the custody of ‘morality police’. The current wave of the protests – the boldest challenge against the clerical regime -- has been described as a revolution by many pundits. The authorities have already responded with a heavy-handed crackdown that US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said in its latest report that from September 16 until Friday, November 18, at least 402 protestors have been killed -- including at least 58 minors -- half a dozen already sentenced to death and more than 15,000 arrested.
A Kurdish human rights group said that in Javanrud security forces opened fire at people from the rooftop of the city’s Judiciary building, the same spot they used during the shooting of protesters in November 2019, sometimes called Bloody November. Security forces killed at least 1,500 people in less than a week.
Hengaw, a Norway-based rights group which monitors abuses in Kurdish areas, said that "In the Kurdish city of Marivan repressive forces have opened fire at people."
In the town of Divandarreh, also located in Kordestan province, “the government’s repressive forces opened fire on protesters on Saturday, killing at least three civilians,” Hengaw reported.
The rights group claimed that the security forces have killed at least 25 people in Kurdish cities since last Tuesday, November 17, when protesters thronged streets on the anniversary of Bloody November. “Twenty-three people were killed by direct fire, one by torture, and one by knife stabs,” Hengaw said.
The Islamic Republic’s attacks on Kurds is not limited to the crackdown on protesters as the IRGC has also stepped up shelling of Iranian Kurdish parties in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
Late on Sunday, the IRGC once again launched missile attacks against the positions of the dissident Iranian Kurdish group, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan in Erbil. At least three missiles hit the party's positions including a hospital, causing casualties. The IRGC also targeted the Komala Party's positions in Iraqi Kurdistan's Sulaymaniyah with drones, the party's secretary general confirmed to Iran International.
At least three presenters have resigned in the past few days. Farhad Fakhrbakhsh, who hosted a show about programs of the Islamic Republic’s broadcaster for over four years, announced his resignation on Saturday.
In a video message published on Instagram, he said entertainment activities need peace of mind that no Iranian has at the moment, adding that "the people of Iran are not in a good mood these days."
Kimia Gilani is another host that resigned after bursting into tears on live television when she was talking about Kian Pirfalak, the 10-year-old boy who was killed by security forces who fired at his family car in the city of Izeh in Khuzestan province this week.
Davoud Abedi, a sport reporter who resigned in recent days, is well-known for his energetic presentations. In a message, he said that these days that people are dying on streets and he cannot fake a happy or energetic tone.
Barbod Babai, Mojtaba Pourbakhsh, Peyman Sheikhi, Majid Ghazanfari are among other presenters that have left the state TV since mid-September in support of the protests.
TV football (soccer) commentator and producer Adel Ferdosipour -- one of the most popular public figures in Iran -- rejected the offer by the state broadcaster to do the commentaries on FIFA World Cup 2022, in support of "bereaved Iranians." He was banned and dismissed by the IRIB in 2019 reportedly over pressure by the Revolutionary Guards, but was asked to come back for the World Cup.
Iran’s state broadcaster was not very popular even before the current wave of protests began, but its popularity has declined dramatically in the past two months because it serves as the main mouthpiece of government propaganda that dismisses the protesters as “rioters.”
In October, ‘reformist’ commentator Abbas Abdi said what the state-run television broadcasts is “sheer propaganda." Ironically, when hackers interrupted the state TV news program October 8, playing a short clip, most Iranians found out about it through social media or on foreign-based satellite TV because few were watching the state TV.
IRIB’s penchant for one-sided news has deeply annoyed viewers who currently get their news from social media and Persian-speaking satellite TV channels based in Europe and the United States. The viewers no longer trust the media that belongs to and echoes the voice of a government they have ceased to trust for the same reason: Unilateralism, and justifying the government's often wrong measures and its police brutality in the streets.
This week, the United States designated six leading employees of IRIB. The US first designated IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) in 2013, and in 2018 reimposed the move in what then Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said was a part of “the maximum pressure exerted by the United States” after withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement.
In a message attributed to workers of the state broadcaster published on social media in recent days, it is claimed that most of the employees of the IRIB support the antigovernment protests and will help the people in case it falls into the hands of protesters. The message also provided directions on how people can take over the IRIB.