Shafaq News- Duhok
Iranian Kurdish opposition parties based in Iraq's Kurdistan Region (KRI) are conducting no military operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) spokesperson Khalil Naderi said Friday —even as their headquarters face near-daily rocket and missile strikes."
Naderi told Shafaq News that the party's headquarters face near-daily rocket and missile strikes, and their site in the Pshdar area between Erbil and al-Sulaymaniyah provinces near the Iranian border was struck by three rockets on Thursday alone, resulting in material damage to party headquarters, civilian homes, and personal property.
The attacks also caused human losses, including five fatalities among the Kurdish parties and six among Kurdistan Region Peshmerga forces, with additional wounded; however, “this number of casualties is considered limited given the frequency of the strikes.”
Facilities belonging to three Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, PAK, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), and the Komala Party, were struck in Erbil and al-Sulaymaniyah provinces in recent weeks, hitting command centers, residential compounds, and training facilities and causing extensive structural damage and fires at several locations.
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The targeted groups accused Iran of carrying out the attacks, describing them as part of an effort to suppress opposition activity operating from Iraqi territory. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the country's elite military force, claimed responsibility, stating it had targeted sites linked to groups it accused of preparing cross-border operations.
Naderi accused Tehran of attempting to widen the conflict by targeting Peshmerga forces and civilian areas inside the KRI.
Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), confirmed in an interview with Agence France-Presse last week that Kurdish authorities had observed no effort by any United States body to arm Iranian opposition groups in the KRI. He added that discussions with Washington, Tehran, and the groups themselves had made clear there was no current plan to deploy these factions inside Iran. Talabani also stated that the KRG had communicated to all opposition parties that it would not permit them to serve as a frontline force, and that this position had been conveyed to all sides.
Read more: Iraq rejects arming Iranian opposition, denies armed activity on its soil
The strikes come against the backdrop of a 2023 security agreement between Iraq —including the Kurdistan Region— and Iran, committing both sides to securing their shared border and curtailing the armed activity of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups operating from Iraqi territory. The deal has come under strain following repeated strikes on opposition camps in the Region. At the start of the current conflict on February 28, Talabani said Tehran had asked Iraqi Kurdistan to do what it could to protect the shared border, a request he said the KRG intended to honor out of respect for bilateral relations.