Were the Hezbollah leader’s comments about Kurdistan warranted?

On January 12, the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, claimed the Kurdistan Region has an obligation to support efforts in Iraq to expel US troops from the country.

According to Nasrallah, this is because Iran's recently-assassinated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani played a key role in saving Kurdistan's capital Erbil from falling under the control of the Islamic State (ISIS).

"I asked Masoud Barzani to thank Soleimani for his efforts in defending Erbil and Kurdistan Region, because Soleimani was the only one to respond to your call," Nasrallah said. "Soleimani and with him men from Hezbollah went to Erbil."

"Barzani was shaking with fear, but Soleimani and the brothers from Hezbollah helped you repulse this unprecedented threat; and now you must repay this good by being part of the effort to expel the Americans from Iraq and the region."

Unsurprisingly, Kurdistan’s parliament condemned his comments, which were undoubtedly phrased in a way to insult Barzani intentionally, and pointing out Iran-backed Shiite paramilitaries also attacked the Kurdistan Region in 2017- killing Peshmerga in the process.

The seizure of Kirkuk on October 16, 2017 from the Peshmerga, a day of infamy for Kurds, by Iraq and its Shiite paramilitaries was, at the very least, decisively supported by Soleimani.

Iran certainly assisted the Kurds in the dire month of August 2014, when ISIS attacked Kurdistan and briefly reached Erbil's city limits. Tehran delivered light arms and ammunition to help bolster the Peshmerga's defenses of their capital. Soleimani was also photographed alongside Peshmerga on the frontlines against ISIS early on in the war in 2014.

Barzani readily acknowledged this assistance at the time, during a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Erbil late in August 2014.

Kurdish leaders again acknowledged this assistance when extending their condolences to Tehran after Soleimani was killed in Baghdad by a US drone strike on January 3, despite the Quds Force commander's role in organizing the Iraqi seizure of Kirkuk. For instance, Fazil Mirani, head of Masoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) politburo, stated that Soleimani "had a very positive role assisting Iraq and Kurdistan in the war against Daesh [ISIS]."

While the Kurds welcomed Iran’s August 2014 assistance, it was certainly not something done out of pure altruism on Tehran's part. By bolstering Erbil's defenses, Iran was helping defend its own borders from the marauding threat of a then seemingly unstoppable ISIS. Indeed, the Peshmerga helped protect Iran by expelling ISIS from Jalawla, a town situated near the Iranian border, after a three-month battle in which it suffered several casualties.

More generally, the United States and the anti-ISIS coalition it quickly formed supported the Kurdistan Region much more decisively than Iran ever did.

It was in defense of Erbil and its consulate there that the US launched its first airstrikes against ISIS and effectively declared war on the group. By September 2014, Germany was arming the Peshmerga with thousands of G-36 assault rifles and Milan anti-tank missiles, the latter of which enabled the Peshmerga to defend their front-line positions from deadly ISIS armoured vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs). Continued coalition air support proved decisive in helping the Peshmerga roll back the ISIS threat to their homeland much more than Iran's initial support, which Kurds still welcomed and expressed their gratitude for nonetheless.

In December 2014, an Iranian parliamentary delegation visited Erbil. The delegation included Muhammad Jafar Sahrarudi, believed by Iranian Kurds in particular to have participated in the assassination of Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) leader Abdulrahman Ghassemlou in Vienna, Austria in July 1989.

Some interpreted Sahrarudi's inclusion in that delegation as a subtle warning from Tehran to the Kurdistan Region's leaders against making any moves in the region it opposes.That being said, Sahrarudi previously visited the region as part of other delegations before the war on ISIS to help resolve disputes between the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

In recent years, there have also been worrying statements made by Iran and its allies in Iraq against the Kurdistan Region.

Akram al-Kabi, leader of the Iran-backed Iraqi Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, claimed in August 2019, without any evidence, that there is an Israeli military base in Erbil. In April 2018, Baqir Jabr al-Zubeidi, a former commander of the Iran-backed Iraqi Badr Brigades and a senior member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) alleged on Iraqi television that Israel has offices in Erbil that form "a de-facto Israeli embassy" for spying on Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. In 2016, Mohsen Rezaee, a senior advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, similarly charged that the Saudi consulate in Erbil was training Iranian opposition groups for attacks on Iran.

In reality, Kurdistan's leadership has consistently sought to prevent its soil from being used by such groups for attacks against its neighbours. These unfounded claims invariably aim to portray the Kurdistan Region as a base for hostile powers. They have the potential to incite Iran-aligned armed groups in the region to view Kurdistan as a threat, and possibly even as a target.

Were the Hezbollah leader’s comments about Kurdistan warranted?

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