File image.
The Iranian Army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have reportedly amassed a large force on the border with the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
On November 25, several videos showing Iranian military reinforcements heading to the border line with Kurdistan surfaced online. The reinforcements included battle tanks, armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles.
Reports of an Iranian military buildup near Iraqi Kurdistan first appeared on November 20. At the time, an officer from the Border Guard Force of the Kurdistan Region confirmed to Iran International that the IRGC Ground Forces have closed the Haj Omran Border Crossing, stationed a large number of troops equipped with heavy weapons there, and were preparing for ground operations inside Kurdistan.
Mohammad Esmail Kowsari, an Iranian member of the parliament who was a commander of the IRGC’s Sarallah Headquarters, confirmed the military buildup on November 23, justifying it by threats posed by Iranian-Kurdish armed opposition groups in Kurdistan.
The MP said during an interview that the “Kurdish separatist groups, especially the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), Komalah [Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan], and PJAK [Kurdistan Free Life Party]” have been stationed in Kurdistan and sought to take control over some areas in Iran’s Kordestan province.
The IRGC Ground Forces have carried out a series of missile and drone strikes on Iranian-Kurdish armed opposition groups in Kurdistan since mid-September, when nationwide protests started in Iran in response to the death of Mahsa Amini. The Iranian-Kurdish woman died while she was held by Iran’s morality police for wearing an improper hijab.
The last wave of Iranian strikes on Kurdistan, which took place November 21, targeted on a base of the Iranian-Kurdish Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) near the region’s capital, Erbil.
Iran has already accused Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups in Kurdistan of inciting violence on its territory, and called on the region’s government to disarm these groups. However, Tehran’s demands are yet to be met.
Now, Iran appears to be preparing for a worst case scenario it which is will have to launch a full-on ground operation in Kurdistan to disarm Kurdish insurgents there with force.
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