After days of reported clashes between the Kurdish Free Life Party (PJAK) and Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Iranian regime is striking at other Kurdish opposition groups.
“Two drones targeted a base belonging to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) in Erbil’s Degala sub-district late Wednesday,” the Kurdish media Rudaw noted.
It is likely that Iran is seeking to strike at KDPI because it wants to prevent KDPI from joining clashes alongside PJAK. Iran wants to defeat one group at a time. PJAK is considered not only to be large and armed but also to have bases in rural areas that may be hard to find.
Rudaw says that “the Kurdistan Region has been hit by at least 865 drones and missiles since late February, as total numbers continue to rise.”
The new drone attack is one of several over the last month. KDPI told Rudaw late Wednesday, “a short while ago, our party [base] in Degala was attacked by two drones.” KDPI added that “at that time, no Peshmerga were present at the targeted location, which is why the attack resulted in no casualties.”
KDPI is a historic Kurdish Iranian opposition group. It is considered centrist and nationalist. Iran has targeted it for many years and also assassinated its leaders decades ago.
Rudaw: Refugee camps attacked by drones
“The attack comes as Iran has continued to target the headquarters and refugee camps of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties in the Kurdistan Region, even after hostilities with the US and Israel eased,” Rudaw noted
The media also says that “nearly 20 drones have targeted refugee camps and the headquarters of Iranian Kurdish parties across the Kurdistan Region over the past month alone.”
Meanwhile, Iranian forces also killed five Kurdish members of the KDPI in what has been described as an “ambush by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”
This happened in western Iran. Once again, Rudaw has key information on this. KDPI told Rudaw that the five fighters were killed “in clashes in an area called Ghezqapan near Piranshahr city.”
There have been other clashes in recent days in Mahabad and other cities and towns where Kurds live in western Iran. “Iranian media reported heavy clashes in the Piranshahr and Sardasht areas between the IRGC’s Hamza Sayyid Al Shuhada forces and Kurdish fighters, but did not provide more details about casualties,” Rudaw noted.
Human rights group notes high death toll
The Hengaw human rights organization, which covers Kurdish issues in Iran, noted new details on July 1 about clashes in Iran.
“The death toll from the armed clash at the Baneh checkpoint has risen to three after Afshin Fatahi, a member of the Iranian security forces, died from his injuries in Sanandaj (Sine). Hengaw previously reported on the clash between the East Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK), the armed wing of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), and Iranian security forces in Baneh.”
The report notes that “Afshin Fatahi, a member of Iran’s Law Enforcement Command (Faraja) from Bijar, died from his injuries on Wednesday, July 1, in Sanandaj after receiving treatment for wounds sustained in the clash at the Baneh checkpoint.”
The report added that “Fatahi’s death brings the number of Iranian security forces members killed in the clash to three. Those killed have been identified as Afshin Fatahi of Bijar and Mohammad Hossein Beigi of Qorveh, both members of Faraja, and Mardin Ahmadi, a conscript soldier from Saqqez.”
The Jerusalem Post reached out to a local source to confirm the recent clashes and also the rising tensions in the Kurdish regions of western Iran. Many Kurdish opposition groups are watching the developments closely.