A Syrian opposition fighter takes a selfie as fellow militiamen walk through Syria in front of Turkish troops near the Syrian border at Hassa, Hatay province, on January 22, 2018. (Credit, Bulent Kilic, AFP , Getty Images)
A terrorist attack in Istanbul, Turkey, and ongoing protests against the regime in Iran have coincided to bring the Kurdish people under enormous pressure across Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey. The war drums began beating again last Monday the 14th, after a bomb detonated in a busy commercial area of Istanbul, Turkey, killing six people and wounding over 80. The Turkish government arrested a female suspect and claimed that she had traveled from the Syrian city of Kobane to carry out the attack on behalf of the Kurdish YPG militia. The Turkish government views the YPG as an extension of the PKK, a Kurdish separatist militia which has fought an intermittent insurgency against the Turkish government since the 1980’s. However, evidence has recently surfaced that the bomber, Ahlam al-Bashir, is Somali, not Kurdish, and that three of her brothers fought and died with ISIS. A fourth brother is currently a member of a Turkish-backed Islamist militia in Syria who became upset with the Turkish government’s tolerance of a rival militia in the occupied area of Afrin.
Despite evidence contrary to its claims of Kurdish responsibility, the Turkish government announced Operation Claw-Sword soon after the attack, which commenced last Monday with airstrikes and artillery fire against multiple targets in Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistan. Although the Turkish government claimed to be “neutralizing terrorists,” its targets included a hospital in Kobane, a power station in Derik, and grain silos in Zarkan. Overall, at least 16 Syrian civilians, 17 Kurdish militia and 24 Syrian regime soldiers have been killed so far in the Turkish offensive, with dozens more injured. The al-Hol internment camp, where ISIS members and their families have been detained by Kurdish forces since 2017, was targeted by Turkish airstrikes on Wednesday, allowing ISIS detainees to escape. Another Turkish airstrike on Wednesday targeted a base used by Kurdish forces and the US military. The US Department of Defense confirmed that US forces were nearby and had been placed at risk by the strikes, urging a de-escalation in hostilities.
In addition to the airstrikes, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised a ground invasion into Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan at a “convenient” time. Mazloum Abdi, commander of Kurdish forces in Syria, claims that Turkey intends to invade and occupy the cities of Kobane, Manbij and Tel Rifaat, linking the two other zones of Turkish occupation in the Afrin and Tel Abyad regions. Erdogan previously announced plans for an identical offensive earlier this year, but was stifled by the disapproval of Russian president Vladimir Putin. The Istanbul bombing would appear to be a convenient pretext to move forward with the planned incursion.
While the Turkish military ramps up its plans against the Kurds in Syria and Iraq, the Iranian regime has also intensified its repression of Kurdish protesters in Northwestern Iran. Almost two months after Masha Amini, a Kurdish woman, was beaten to death by Iranian morality police, protests against the regime continue unabated across the Kurdish-majority areas of the country. The regime responded last week with increased brutality against Kurdish communities, deploying the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the Kurdish-majority cities of Mahabad and Javanrood. Amateur video was published to social media showing unarmed civilians gunned down in the streets, and squads of regime security forces going house-to-house at night, murdering Kurdish residents in their homes.
The Iranian regime blames Kurdish separatist militias such as the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) for ongoing protests, and has attacked targets in Iraqi Kurdistan with artillery and drones several times in recent weeks. On Wednesday, the Iranian regime ordered the Iraqi government to dismantle the Iranian Kurdish parties and secure the border between the Kurdish territories of Iraq and Iran by December 1st, or face an Iranian military operation into Iraqi territory. On Friday, multiple sources reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was massing tanks and personnel along the Iran-Iraq border in preparation for such an incursion.
We would ask the Maranatha global family to join us in prayer for the Kurdish people across the Middle East, who find themselves threatened and buffeted on all sides. We pray that the designs of wicked regimes would be thwarted, that the international community would stand in solidarity with the Kurdish people, and that the latest round of wars and rumors of wars would draw the Kurdish people across the region to an eternal hope that cannot be shaken.
Maranatha.
