Cattle owners on Iran-Iraq border told to leave ahead of military activity

RANIYA, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish livestock owners in bordering areas between Iran and Iraq are being warned to leave the area  ahead of anticipated Iranian military activity, local cattle farmers who use the region for pasture told Rudaw.

The Iranian army has been constructing hundreds of outposts in the area, which are reportedly for monitoring cross-border movement between the two countries, according to local residents.

“They told us to leave or we will be bombed,” said Muhammad Haji, a livestock owner who has been wandering the mountainous grasslands with his cattle and sheep for decades.

“Of course it will affect us. If we can’t feed our animals, they’ll die and then we have to sell them before that,” Haji said.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) affiliate in Iran, KODAR, claimed earlier this month it had killed 20 Iranian soldiers in an attack on a military outpost in the city of Mariwan, a claim denied by Iranian authorities.

The Iranian army has frequently shelled bordering areas where KODAR guerrillas are believed to be based.

“It’s not just the Iranain army; we need to pay taxes to the PKK, too,” said Haji. ”I paid 100,000 dinars last year,” he added, complaining about border fees imposed by the PKK.