“O believers! Fight the disbelievers around you and let them find harshness in you. And know that Allah is with the righteous,” read the verse published on IRGC Twitter and Telegram accounts on Thursday as Iranian warplanes and drones bombed Kurdish opposition party bases in the Kurdistan Region.
The attacks started at 6:00 in the morning. Iranian warplanes, drones, and artillery targeted several locations in the Sidakan and Choman areas of Erbil province where several Kurdish opposition groups have small bases.
IRGC ground forces on Thursday confirmed they used “combat and suicide drones in the operation, as its smart artillery with pinpoint accuracy have targeted the positions of the terrorist groups with high precision,” IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency reported.
Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are carrying out aerial attacks inside the Kurdistan region of Iraq. #Twitterkurds #Kurdistan #Rojhelat #Iran #IRGC pic.twitter.com/G7T6lNljcw
— PDKI (@PDKIenglish) September 9, 2021
The attacks continued on Friday, for the second day in a row. Iran shelled the Sidakan, Choman, and Haji Omran areas in eastern Erbil province, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) tweeted. The party said they shot down an Iranian suicide drone.
Mohammed Majid, mayor of Barbzin village in Sidakan sub-district, confirmed to Rudaw that the attacks were continuing on Friday. He said there were no casualties, but, since Thursday local farmers and shepherds have been afraid to work in their fields.
Top commanders of the IRGC this week ratcheted up threats against the armed Kurdish parties and called on civilians in the Kurdistan Region to avoid areas where these groups have their bases because of a possible cross-border assault. Since the threats were made, the parties took precautions, dispersing their fighters and not staying fixed in one place.
There were no casualties among the KDPI, which was one the targets of the attack, Kawa Bahrami, a top Peshmerga commander with the KDPI said on their official news channel on Thursday. He did not say whether their bases were hit or not.
An armed Kurdish group, the Zagros Eagles, on Friday vowed Iran's "military aggression against the Kurdish people will be avenged."
Several armed Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, including KDPI, have bases in the Kurdistan Region mountains that are periodically shelled by Iran. They frequently clash with Iranian security forces in the Kurdish areas of western Iran.
Iranian officials have called on the Iraqi government to take action against the Kurdish groups. Reacting to Iran’s threats, spokesperson for Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji, said Iraq “will not allow anyone to threaten its security and safety,” and urged diplomacy.
Updated at 5:57 pm
