From IMRA:
Hundreds of Iraqi Kurds have
fled remotemountain villages near the country’s eastern frontier as Iranian
gunnerstarget separatist guerrilla bases, local officials said yesterday.
“About150 families have left eight villages. We are very concerned about
thesituation in the area. If the shelling continues, we may have to declare
anemergency situation,” said Hussein Ahmed, governor of Qalaa Diza
district
This comes after Iran dropped leaflets warning Kurds of the offensive:
Kurdish sources said Iran’s military has dropped leaflets into Iraqi Kurdish villages that call for their immediate evacuation. The leaflets warned the Kurds of impending Iranian military strikes.
“The authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran will work on cleansing this area,” the leaflet said.
On Aug. 20, Kurdish sources said an Iranian military helicopter was shot down by Kurdish insurgents near the Iranian-Iraqi-Turkish border. The helicopter was said to contain at least six Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers assigned to direct attacks against the Kurds.
The leaflets were distributed in the northern province of Irbil on Aug. 19 as Iranian troops began deployment along the Iraqi border. Kurdish sources said Iran appeared ready to launch an offensive against Kurdish insurgents from the so-called Party of Freedom of Life, which demands autonomy for Kurds in Iran.
The sources said Iranian forces were deployed near the Iraqi town of Haj Omran. The military operation was said to have been coordinated with Turkey.
“Our enemies, mainly the Americans, are trying to plant security hurdles in our country,” the Iranian leaflet said. “They achieved this through using agents in the [Iraqi] areas of Kandil and Khaneera inside the Kurdish region.”
Iran’s offensive may be aimed at the PKK, a Kurdish Communist insurgent group, but the timing coincides with France’s promise to help stabilize the region, and perhaps a Baathist alliance with coalition forces, which may put the Iranians in a position where they need to step up the violence to avoid having another “occupying force” left if the Dem’s get their way and pull out. This is likely a message to France and anyone else thinking of attempting to help Iraq, “We’re shelling the Kurds and America can’t do anything about it, what are you going to do?” A message that strong may shake French resolve to intervene.
The PKK are no angels however, and are basically a Communist Narco -terror outfit who’ve been able to fill in the gap for a weak and ineffective Kurdish resistance in the minds of Kurds. America may be unwilling to intervene to protect PKK interests because in the long term an armed and powerful PKK is a threat to our interests.
A heart wrenching Kurdish call to arms can be found here, and will help explain why a violent Communist group is able to garner support from the mainstream Kurds. A spirited defense of the PKK can be found here. There’s no doubt that the PKK is influential on the ground, American forces may be making a mistake by not coming to their aid.