PARIS/SULAIMANIYA, Iraq: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they fired missiles and drones at militant targets in the Kurdish region of neighboring northern Iraq, where authorities said 13 people were killed.
The strikes were reported after Iranian authorities accused armed Iranian Kurdish dissidents of involvement in unrest now shaking Iran, especially in the northwest where most of the country’s population of over 10 million Kurds live.
Thirteen people were killed and 58 wounded in the attacks near Irbil and Sulaimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq’s state news agency said citing its counter-terrorism service in Kurdistan.
Iraqi Kurdish sources told Reuters drone strikes targeted at least 10 bases of Iranian Kurds near Sulaimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan on Wednesday morning, without elaborating about possible casualties.
The US Army Central Command said it downed an Iranian drone on Wednesday while it was on its way to Irbil, adding that the drone posed a threat to US personnel in the region.
“No US forces were wounded or killed as a result of the strikes and there is no damage to US equipment,” it said in a statement.
A senior member of Komala, an exiled Iranian Kurdish opposition party, told Reuters that several of their offices were struck as well.
Tariq Haidari, mayor of the Iraqi Kurdish city of Koye, told Reuters that two people including a pregnant woman were killed and 12 wounded. Some of the wounded were rushed in critical condition to hospital in Irbil, he said.
The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s elite military and security force, said after the attacks that they would continue targeting what it called terrorists in the region.
“This operation will continue with our full determination until the threat is effectively repelled, terrorist group bases are dismantled, and the authorities of the Kurdish region assume their obligations and responsibilities,” the Guards said in a statement read on state television.
Iraq’s foreign ministry condemned the attacks.
Iraq’s foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday that the ministry would summon the Iranian ambassador to inform him of Iraq’s objection to the attacks on Iraqi territories and that Iraq considers this action as a violation of sovereignty.
The attacks were condemned by the UN mission in Iraq.
The US condemned the “brazen attacks” and Britain said Iraq’s “indiscriminate bombardment” demonstrates “a repeated pattern of Iranian destabilizing activity in the region”.
Germany slammed the “escalation... against the backdrop of domestic political protests in Iran” and rejected “attempts to locate the causes of the Iranian protests in the neighboring country”.
The Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, one of the groups targeted, charged that “these cowardly attacks are occurring at a time when the terrorist regime of Iran is unable to crack down on ongoing protests inside and silence the Kurdish and Iranian peoples’ civil resistance”.
Protests erupted in Iran this month over the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody.
Amini, 22, from the northwestern Kurdish city of Saqez, was arrested on Sept. 13 in the capital Tehran for “unsuitable attire” by the morality police, who enforce the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.
She died three days later in hospital after falling into a coma, sparking the first big show of opposition on Iran’s streets since authorities crushed protests against a rise in gasoline prices in 2019.
On Wednesday, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi condemned the “chaos” sparked by a wave of women-led protests over Amini death.
“Those who took part in the riots must be dealt with decisively, this is the demand of the people,” said Raisi in a televised interview.
“People’s safety is the red line of the Islamic republic of Iran and no one is allowed to break the law and cause chaos,” he said.
“The enemy has targeted national unity and wants to pit people against each other,” added the ultraconservative president, accusing Iran’s archfoe the United States of stoking the unrest.
Raisi said the nation had felt “grief and sorrow” over Amini death, and that forensics and judiciary experts would soon present a final report, but also warned that “protests are different to riots”.
“Woman, Life, Freedom!” the protesters have chanted in Iran’s biggest demonstrations in almost three years, in which women have defiantly burned their headscarves and cut off their hair.
Their actions have been matched in solidarity protests worldwide, with British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who spent six years in jail in Iran, cutting her hair in a video shared on the BBC Persian service.
Amini’s bereaved parents have filed a complaint, demanding “a thorough investigation” and the release of “all videos and photographs” of her while in custody, said their lawyer Saleh Nikbakht.
An Iraq-based cousin of Amini, who is a member of a Kurdish nationalist group, charged that she died after a “violent blow to the head” and that one officer had vowed to “instil the rules in her and teach her how to wear the hijab and how to dress”.
As the Iranian protests have flared for 12 nights in a row, Iran’s police command vowed its forces would confront them “with all their might”, in a crackdown that one rights group says has already killed at least 76 people.
The Iranian government — its economy already hit by sanctions over its nuclear program — has sought to play down the crisis.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said he told Western diplomats at recent UN meetings that the protests were “not a big deal” for the stability of the clerical state.
“There is not going to be regime change in Iran. Don’t play to the emotions of the Iranian people,” he told National Public Radio in New York, also accusing “outside elements” of stirring up violence.
Fars news agency said Tuesday “around 60” people had been killed since Amini’s death. But the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights said the crackdown has killed at least 76 people.
Iran’s response has drawn concern from the UN and condemnation from the around the world, with Germany and Spain summoning the Iranian ambassadors and the US and Canada announcing new sanctions.
The son of Iran’s late shah, in an interview near Washington with AFP, hailed the protests and urged the world to add to the pressure on the clerical leadership.
Reza Pahlavi, whose father was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, urged greater preparation for a future Iranian system that is secular and democratic.
“It is truly in modern times, in my opinion, the first revolution for the women, by the women — with the support of the Iranian men, sons, brothers and fathers,” said Pahlavi.
Thirteen reported killed as Iran Revolutionary Guards target dissident sites in Iraq
https://arab.news/4jc7b
Thirteen reported killed as Iran Revolutionary Guards target dissident sites in Iraq
- Iranian authorities accuse Iranian Kurdish dissidents of involvement in unrest
- Drone strikes targeted at least 10 bases of Iranian Kurds near Sulaimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan
Gideon Saar, Netanyahu rival turned Israel’s new wartime foreign minister
- Saar was appointed foreign minister to replace Israel Katz, who took over the defense portfolio on Tuesday after Netanyahu fired Yoav Gallant over an erosion of trust during the Gaza war
JERUSALEM: A self-styled political rebel and once a rival of the prime minister, Gideon Saar was named Israel’s new foreign minister on Tuesday.
Just five years ago Saar openly challenged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the leadership of Israel’s right-wing Likud party.
The former journalist and lawyer then left Likud in 2020, saying it had been corrupted under Netanyahu’s leadership, to form the hawkish, right-wing New Hope party.
Following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last year, Saar joined the emergency war cabinet, before leaving the administration.
In September, he joined Netanyahu’s government as minister without a portfolio.
“As a long-time member of the government and cabinet, Gideon Saar brings substantial experience and sound judgment in security and policy matters, making him a valuable addition to our leadership team,” Netanyahu said Tuesday in a statement issued by his office.
“The addition of Saar and his party will strengthen the coalition and stabilize the government, which is crucial at all times, particularly in times of war.”
Israel has been fighting Hamas in Gaza since the militant group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 43,391 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry, figures considered reliable by the UN.
Saar was appointed foreign minister to replace Israel Katz, who took over the defense portfolio on Tuesday after Netanyahu fired Yoav Gallant over an erosion of trust during the Gaza war.
Gallant had for months clashed with Netanyahu over his approach to talks on a possible hostage release deal and on the future of Gaza.
Israeli media earlier this year quoted Gallant as privately telling a parliamentary committee that a hostage release deal “is stalling... in part because of Israel.”
Netanyahu’s office accused Gallant of adopting an “anti-Israel narrative.”
Saar entered politics in 1999 as government secretary, before being elected to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in 2003.
He rose through the ranks to become interior minister and education minister in previous Netanyahu governments.
In 2021 he joined the government of former prime minister Naftali Bennett as justice minister with the title of deputy prime minister.
His political star had, however, dimmed in recent years.
Though he participated in the emergency government formed in the wake of the October 7 attack, he joined the opposition in March after failing to get a seat in the war cabinet.
He is considered more right-wing than Netanyahu, but lacks his charisma.
He has spoken out in favor of the all-out annexation of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
His ideology is “that of the Likud” but he believes that the party has “abandoned its values under Netanyahu,” deputy Sharren Haskel, a close friend of Saar’s, told AFP.
With a father who grew up in Argentina and a mother with roots in Uzbekistan, Saar calls himself a practicing Jew while affirming that “every Israeli citizen must be able to live freely according to his conscience and way of life.”
He is married to high-profile Israeli journalist Geula Even, with whom he has two children.
A daughter from his first marriage, Alona Saar, is a popular actress.
Turkiye, Kyrgyzstan sign strategic partnership on Erdogan visit
- Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov said in a statement: “We have taken an important decision to raise the level of strategic partnership between Kyrgyzstan and Turkiye to that of a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’“
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: Turkiye and Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday agreed to a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” boosting defense ties, during an official visit to the Central Asian state by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ankara is strengthening its presence across the region, as it seeks to compete with the likes of Russia and China for influence.
Erdogan regularly visits Central Asia and will on Wednesday take part in a summit of the Organization of Turkic States, a Turkish-led initiative to promote its culture and ties across several former Soviet republics.
Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov said in a statement: “We have taken an important decision to raise the level of strategic partnership between Kyrgyzstan and Turkiye to that of a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership.’“
The two sides signed 19 agreements in areas including energy, defense and the fight against terrorism.
Japarov hailed “Kyrgyz-Turkish cooperation in the field of defense and the potential for further development.”
Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Turkiye has stepped up military cooperation with Central Asian states, a challenge to Moscow’s historic supremacy in the region.
Turkiye was the third-biggest investor in Kyrgyzstan in the first half of 2024, behind Russia and China.
But it lags in terms of trade, accounting for 3.8 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s imports and exports, against 34.2 percent for China and 19.5 percent for Russia.
Turkiye sacks 3 pro-Kurdish mayors for ‘terror ties’
ISTANBUL: Turkiye on Monday sacked three mayors in the Kurdish-majority southeast on alleged “terrorism” charges, despite Ankara’s apparent desire to seek a rapprochement with the Kurdish community.
In a sweep, the mayors of the cities of Mardin and Batman as well as the Halfeti district in Sanliurfa province were all removed and replaced with government-appointed trustees, the Interior Ministry said.
All three belong to DEM, the main pro-Kurdish party, and were elected in March’s local elections, when opposition candidates won in numerous towns and cities, including Istanbul.
Among those removed were Ahmet Turk, Mardin’s 82-year- old mayor, along with Batman mayor Gulistan Sonuk and Mehmet Karayilan in Halfeti.
The ministry outlined a string of allegations against them, frommembershipinanarmed group to disseminating propaganda for the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as PKK.
Since 1984, the PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state in which more than 40,000 people have died. It is blacklisted as a “terror” group by Turkiye and its Western allies.
Kurds make up around 20 percent of Turkiye’s overall population.
DEM swiftly denounced the moveas“amajorattackonthe Kurdish people’s right to vote and be elected.”
Red Cross launches international emergency appeal urging donors to provide resources for Lebanon
BEIRUT: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on Tuesday launched an international emergency appeal asking donors to provide resources for Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah war.
IFRC also called on all parties to protect paramedics in the conflict that has left thousands of people dead and wounded, many of them over the past six weeks.
Jagan Chapagain, the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told The Associated Press in Beirut that “needs are just growing so fast.” He met with officials and toured shelters housing people displaced by the conflict.
The IFRC said its emergency appeal for 100 million Swiss Francs ($115.8 million) is aimed at helping Lebanon and the Lebanese Red Cross through the ongoing conflict.
The 13-month war between Israel and Hezbollah has killed more than 3,000 people, wounded over 13,000 in Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands of the displaced are staying in shelters around the small nation that is passing through a historic economic crisis.
In northern Israel, 68 soldiers and 41 civilians have been killed since October 2023, according to the prime minister’s office. More than 60,000 people have been displaced from their homes.
The conflict dramatically escalated on Sept. 23, with intense Israeli airstrikes on south and east Lebanon as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, leaving hundreds dead and leading to the displacement of nearly 1.2 million people.
Chapagain said people staying in community centers around the country need hygiene kits, non-food items, blankets and heaters as winter approaches. He added that even if the hostilities stop, it will take time for things to go back to normal and that is one of the reasons why the IFRC’s emergency appeal goes for two years.
“The global community needs to come together to find a political solution to the challenges this region has been facing for decades,” Chapagain said.
He said that more than 30 staff and volunteers globally have already been killed this year and dozens injured adding that many other organizations have also lost members of their staff.
“This is something unheard of many years ago,” he said about the 30 deaths, adding that among the countries where paramedics suffered most are Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and Sudan.
In Lebanon, 17 members of the Lebanese Red Cross have been wounded since the conflict began while carrying out their rescue duties in different parts of Lebanon. Three of the 17 paramedics were wounded twice, according to IFRC.
“The Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems are protected,” said Chapagain.
Israeli military says sirens sounded in Eilat
- The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said in a statement that it targeted a “vital target” in Eilat
BAGHDAD: Israeli military said on Tuesday that sirens were sounded in the Red Sea port city of Eilat.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said in a statement that it targeted a “vital target” in Eilat by drones.
The Iraqi pro-Iran group has been launching attacks on Israel since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza.