ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran launched two missiles and two drones against bases associated with the Komala party and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) in the northeast of Erbil on Thursday, officials from both Kurdish Iranian opposition groups said. There were no reports of casualties.
“They [missiles and drones] came from Rojhelat [Kurdish areas in western Iran],” Salam Rashidi, a Komala commander, told Rudaw English, adding that two missiles managed to strike their base while one of the drones was intercepted by US air defenses stationed in a nearby airspace.
“The other drone hit the ground and exploded,” he added.
Commenting on the incident, a leadership member of the KDPI said the drone, which was not intercepted, crashed near their base. “A drone hit Alana Valley, where a KDPI is located,” he said.
Iran has intensified its strikes against Kurdish Iranian opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region since February 28, when the United States and Israel launched a military campaign against the country, triggering a regional conflict that lasted for nearly six weeks before Washington and Tehran agreeing to a ceasefire in early April.
Nevertheless, despite the truce - and its extension by a landmark memorandum of understanding on June 18 - Tehran and its aligned “Islamic Resistance of Iraq” have resumed their strikes on the Kurdish dissident groups.
“Our bases have been struck three times since the MoU,” the KDPI official confirmed to Rudaw, noting that the total attacks on their military and civilian units since late February have exceeded 140 .
Based on Rudaw’s tracking, the Kurdistan Region has been hit with 16 drones and missiles in June. As for the total number of the strikes since the war, the Region has come under at least 880 strikes.
Thursday's strikes come as Iran has also begun engaging with the mobile forces of the Kurdish groups inside Kurdish areas of the country since Saturday.
Earlier in the day, KDPI reported the killing of six of its members near Piranshahr after they fell into “an ambush by a massive and well-prepared” force affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Other clashes also occurred in Mahabad, Baneh, and Paveh. Both sides have sustained casualties, with the IRGC confirming the killing of two senior Basij militia members on Monday.
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