ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Intelligence have turned Kurdish cities in northwestern Iran into military garrisons, according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
Massive military convoys carrying heavy weaponry have arrived in the towns of Sanandaj, Kamyaran, Shaho, Paweh, Mariwan and Sarwabad since a general strike took place across Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhelat) on September 12, KHRN reports.
The strike was called in protest at the execution of Kurdish prisoners in regime jails and Tehran’s rocket attack on the headquarters of Kurdish opposition parties in the neighboring Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
“IRGC troops have been deployed to all villages around Shaho Mountain in the cities of Paweh and Kamyaran and are planning to launch military operations with heavyweight military tank vehicles against the forces of Kurdish parties based in these areas,” KHRN said Saturday.
“Moreover, during the past week, special forces have been deployed to the main streets of Sanandaj and are patrolling in the form of mobile caravans seeking to increase the atmosphere of fear in the city.”
“IRGC troops have bombarded the Ariz Mountain near the city on the pretext of conducting military maneuvers by helicopter,” the monitor added.
Earlier this week the IRGC and the Basij Resistance Force – an axillary militia – acknowledged they were holding military drills in the region involving tens of thousands of personnel.
Regime troops and border guards regularly clash with Kurdish opposition groups in the mountainous border areas.
Kurdish opposition groups, including the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), Komala, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP-I), and the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), have fought for greater minority, cultural, and political rights for all of Iran’s people. Their struggle predated the Islamic Revolution.
Clashes between the regime and Kurdish opposition groups have increased in recent months. Iranian forces regularly fire rockets across the border into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq where these groups seek sanctuary.
Iranian missiles killed 17 people in Koya on September 8. Forty-six others were injured including women near a joint coordination center for the Iranian Kurdish parties in opposition to the regime. The casualties included top party leaders.
On the same day, Iran executed three young Kurdish prisoners – Ramin Hossein Panahi, Loghman Moradi, and Zanyar Moradi.
In response, Kurdish opposition called a general strike. Now the regime is bolstering its security presence in the Kurdish provinces to quell descent. This has included the arbitrary arrest of Kurdish citizens.
“In addition to the militarization of Kurdistan, the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran has also summoned and interrogated dozens of Kurdish citizens from the cities and villages of Marivan, Kamyaran and Sanandaj in the past few weeks,” KHRN said.
Massive military convoys carrying heavy weaponry have arrived in the towns of Sanandaj, Kamyaran, Shaho, Paweh, Mariwan and Sarwabad since a general strike took place across Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhelat) on September 12, KHRN reports.
The strike was called in protest at the execution of Kurdish prisoners in regime jails and Tehran’s rocket attack on the headquarters of Kurdish opposition parties in the neighboring Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
“IRGC troops have been deployed to all villages around Shaho Mountain in the cities of Paweh and Kamyaran and are planning to launch military operations with heavyweight military tank vehicles against the forces of Kurdish parties based in these areas,” KHRN said Saturday.
“Moreover, during the past week, special forces have been deployed to the main streets of Sanandaj and are patrolling in the form of mobile caravans seeking to increase the atmosphere of fear in the city.”
“IRGC troops have bombarded the Ariz Mountain near the city on the pretext of conducting military maneuvers by helicopter,” the monitor added.
Earlier this week the IRGC and the Basij Resistance Force – an axillary militia – acknowledged they were holding military drills in the region involving tens of thousands of personnel.
Regime troops and border guards regularly clash with Kurdish opposition groups in the mountainous border areas.
Kurdish opposition groups, including the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), Komala, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP-I), and the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), have fought for greater minority, cultural, and political rights for all of Iran’s people. Their struggle predated the Islamic Revolution.
Clashes between the regime and Kurdish opposition groups have increased in recent months. Iranian forces regularly fire rockets across the border into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq where these groups seek sanctuary.
Iranian missiles killed 17 people in Koya on September 8. Forty-six others were injured including women near a joint coordination center for the Iranian Kurdish parties in opposition to the regime. The casualties included top party leaders.
On the same day, Iran executed three young Kurdish prisoners – Ramin Hossein Panahi, Loghman Moradi, and Zanyar Moradi.
In response, Kurdish opposition called a general strike. Now the regime is bolstering its security presence in the Kurdish provinces to quell descent. This has included the arbitrary arrest of Kurdish citizens.
“In addition to the militarization of Kurdistan, the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran has also summoned and interrogated dozens of Kurdish citizens from the cities and villages of Marivan, Kamyaran and Sanandaj in the past few weeks,” KHRN said.
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