Iran Attacks Iraqi Kurdistan // FAI ONLINE

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired dozens of ballistic missiles, artillery shells, and launched several kamikaze drones into Iraqi Kurdistan last week, targeting five different sites associated with Iranian Kurdish parties. At least 14 people were killed in the strikes, including a pregnant mother and an American citizen. Over 50 people were injured, including a young girl and an infant boy.

*Sites where the IRGC has attacked Iraqi Kurdistan in the past week, courtesy of Seth Frantzman (sethfrantzman.com).*

The largest attack came Wednesday, when the IRGC targeted sites in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Suleymaniyah and Erbil provinces, including structures belonging to the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDP-I), the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), and Komala. These three Iranian-Kurdish parties have opposed the regime for decades, straddling Kurdish-majority areas on both sides of the Iran-Iraq border, with their leadership in exile in Iraq.

Amateur video posted to social media showed local residents, including nearby schoolchildren, reacting in fear as rockets impacted buildings nearby. At least one Iranian drone appeared to be directed towards a US Coalition base near Erbil and was shot down by a US F-16 fighter jet. Government leaders in Erbil, Baghdad, Washington, London and Paris all strongly condemned the attack, calling it “rocket diplomacy.” Despite this, the IRGC continued cross-border artillery fire throughout the weekend into Saturday, targeting Kurdish positions in the Berbizin Mountains, Erbil Province, near the Iranian border.

The strikes come after the Iranian government has been rocked by two weeks of unrelenting street protests across the country in opposition to the regime’s oppression of women under Sharia law. Protests were especially fervent in Saqqez, the Kurdish-majority hometown of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, who was beaten to death by Iran’s so-called “Morality Police” on September 13th for not wearing her head covering properly, igniting the protest movement. At least 92 Iranians have died at the hands of Iranian security forces in the past two weeks, including over 40 in Iran’s southeastern city of Zahedan, Baluchistan province, after the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl by a local police chief prompted a separate wave of street protests by Iran’s Baluch minority.

As Iranian missiles and drones struck targets across Kurdistan last Wednesday, the following statement was released by Nathan on FAI’s Telegram channel, reporting FAI’s situation in the area: “Within the last few hours the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has been launching rockets into the Kurdish region of Iraq. I wanted to reassure everyone that our teams are safe. The attacks are targeted against a few specific political parties in the region [and] are related to the current protests in Iran. We are currently taking steps alongside our local Kurdish partners to make sure that our team stays safe as long as the attacks continue. Please pray for the Kurds that have been affected by the attacks and pray for our team, that the Lord keeps us safe.”

Maranatha.