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Footage purportedly shows Iranian artillery shells strike the mountains of Alana, Haji Omaran on June 17, 2020. Video submitted to Rudaw.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A second day of Iranian shelling, as well as Turkish drone flight, was reported over the area of Alana in Erbil province's Haji Omaran district bordering Iran, local officials and witnesses said on Wednesday, after media outlets close to the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Turkey and Iran agreed to jointly fight what they called Kurdistan Region-based cross-border "terrorism".
"The artillery shelling started at 9:05 am, lasting for 15 minutes and hitting the area ten times," Alana village resident Maasuma Hamad Amin told Rudaw. "The bombing has sparked fear among locals."
Footage submitted by Amin purportedly shows the very moment Iranian artillery shelling struck the mountainous border area.
According to Haji Omaran mayor Farzang Ahmed, Iranian shelling is specifically targeting Alana's Baraskan heights.
Due to the shelling, "nomadic families have fled the region," Ahmed said, adding that the damage it has caused is not yet known.
Local authorities have established a committee of "civil defense, medical teams and police, in order to be on alert in case of injuries and any possible fire," Ahmed said.
According to another local official, Iranian shelling is occurring at the same time as Turkish operation in the area. Turkey launched a major air operation against suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) positions in the Kurdistan Region on Monday, followed by a ground operation in the Haftanin area of the Kurdistan Region in the early hours of Wednesday.
"Turkish unmanned drones are spotted hovering overhead at the same time," Alana village chieftain Abdulla Hussein said.
The area has previously been subject to Iranian artillery shelling that targets Iranian Kurdish opposition groups nestled in the Kurdistan Region-Iran border area. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has called on Iranian Kurdish armed groups not to launch attacks against neighboring countries from Kurdistan Region territory.
Though official Iranian state outlets have not yet said anything about the shelling, it has been reported by platforms affiliated by the IRGC, who say it is targeting Kurdish guerilla groups.
"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has shelled positions of groups of PJAK and PKK in northern Iraq. In these attacks the areas of Alana Valley, Keli Ghazal and Barda Soran near the border area of Haji Omaran were targeted by the artillery of the IRGC," reported the IRGC-affiliated ISWNEWS.
"It is reported that hours before the [IRGC strikes] the Turkish jets bombed the same area, however official sources have not confirmed the joint operation of the two countries," the ISWNEWS report added.
Bitawan, a news website close to the IRGC said the same-day attacks came after Turkey and Iran mutally agreed to fight "terrorism".
Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu met in Ankara on Monday, reiterating their commitment to fight "terrorism" amongst a host of other issues.
A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party -Iran (KDP-I), an Iranian Kurdish opposition group, told Rudaw on Wednesday that no co-members have been harmed in the shelling.
"Our forces stationed in the border areas and in that region are safe and unharmed, as are other political parties' forces," Rostam Jahangiri said.
Jahangiri describes the Turkish and Iranian attacks against Kurdish opposition groups as based on an "agreement" between the two sides.
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