{"id":2885,"date":"2022-09-30T07:20:45","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T06:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=2885"},"modified":"2022-09-30T07:20:45","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T06:20:45","slug":"as-protests-rage-on-iran-carries-out-strikes-against-kurds-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=2885","title":{"rendered":"As protests rage on, Iran carries out strikes against Kurds in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Washington Post<\/strong> – By\u00a0Mustafa Salim<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Updated\u00a0September 28, 2022 at 4:02 p.m. EDT|Published\u00a0September 28, 2022 at 11:19 a.m. EDT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BAGHDAD \u2014 Iran carried out deadly cross-border attacks Wednesday in northern Iraq, targeting the headquarters of three Iranian Kurdish opposition parties who support the ongoing demonstrations inside Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The missile and drone strikes killed at least 13 people and wounded 58,including civilians and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Saman Barzanji, the health minister, said ambulances have struggled to reach some of the affected sites, which are in remote, mountainous areas, and the death toll is expected to rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strikes targeted the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran in the Koysanjak district in Irbil, the Kurdish Komala Party in the village of Zarkwezela, in Sulaymaniyah province, and the Kurdistan Freedom Party in Kirkuk province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran confirmed the deaths of two of its members, while the leader of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, Hussein Yazdanpanah, told Kurdish media his group had endured \u201cheavy losses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the strikes hit a civilian area, close to an elementary school. Footage circulating on social media showed children screaming and running for shelter behind rocky outcroppings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a quiet morning until the sound of bombing shook our house,\u201d said Salar Ali, a 47-year-old farmer from Koysanjak. He immediately rushed to the school, where he was reunited with his 10-year-old son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are a quiet, peaceful village and we don\u2019t deserve what is happening to us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, claimed responsibility for the attacks against what it called \u201cbases operated by separatist terrorists,\u201d and vowed to continue targeting Kurdish groups. The Iranian military, meanwhile, carried out artillery attacks for a fifth day on several areas bordering Irbil province. Those attacks have not resulted in any casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the strikes underscore the unease in the Iranian government over the protests that have rocked the country for nearly two weeks. They began after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, fell into a coma and died after being detained by the country\u2019s \u201cmorality police.\u201d Dozens of protesters have been killed and hundreds injured in the ensuing crackdown, according to rights groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, in an interview aired on state television Wednesday, addressed the protests but portrayed them as largely violent and instigated by Western powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho are the ones who are spreading chaos? They want to create chaos and jeopardize security in this country,\u201d he said, referring to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raisi vowed to \u201cfollow up\u201d on the inquiry into Amini\u2019s death and said that a forensic examination was underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Protesters chant during a Sept. 21 demonstration in Tehran over the death of a woman detained by Iran’s morality police. (AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But at the same time, Raisi, a hard-line cleric and former judiciary chief, pledged to put some demonstrators on trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey must be dealt with,\u201d he said of those he accused of \u201ccausing trouble and chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protests began in Iran\u2019s predominantly Kurdish west, where Amini was from, and which shares a border with Iraq\u2019s semiautonomous Kurdish region. Iran\u2019s exiled Kurdish parties have long based themselves in Iraq, and while they have voiced support for the protests in Iran, there is no indication they are directly connected to the unrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But analysts said the attacks were an attempt at deflection by Tehran, an effort to blame outside forces for a homegrown uprising. \u201cWhat the Iranians want to say is that the unrest inside Iran is instigated by the political opposition parties [in Iraq],\u201d said Hiwa Osman, a Kurdish political analyst based in Irbil. \u201cBut in reality it\u2019s public dissent by the Iranians, inside Iran, against the Iranian regime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iraq\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ahmed Al-Sahaf, said he would summon the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad to protest the violence, while the Kurdistan Regional Government condemned the attacks as \u201can incorrect behavior, a distortion of the course of events, and a source of astonishment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the first Iranian attack inside Iraq since March, when the Revolutionary Guard claimed a missile strike on an empty villa in Irbil owned by a Kurdish oil tycoon, who was reportedly targeted<\/a> for being involved in energy talks with Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe constant Iranian message in all of these attacks, starting from last year\u2019s \u2026 is we can harm you, and America cannot protect you,\u201d said Osman. \u201cAnd the Kurdish authorities are only left with condemnation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erin Cunningham in Washington contributed to this report.<\/em>28<\/p>\n

\n Tweet<\/a>\n