Iranian-Kurdish Female Fighters Train in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region

A group of Iranian Kurdish women, who have joined Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, take part in a training session in a military camp in Erbil, Iraq July 9, 2019. (Reuters)
A group of Iranian Kurdish women, who have joined Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, take part in a training session in a military camp in Erbil, Iraq July 9, 2019. (Reuters)
TT

Iranian-Kurdish Female Fighters Train in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region

A group of Iranian Kurdish women, who have joined Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, take part in a training session in a military camp in Erbil, Iraq July 9, 2019. (Reuters)
A group of Iranian Kurdish women, who have joined Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, take part in a training session in a military camp in Erbil, Iraq July 9, 2019. (Reuters)

Over 300 female volunteers from the Kurdistan Freedom Party in Iran (PAK), led by General Hussein Yazdanpanah, completed their combat and tactical training in one of the party's camps east of Erbil province in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

PAK field commander Rebaz Sharifi announced that the volunteers completed their four-month training on light and medium weapons and are ready to take up the tasks that will be assigned to them.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharifi said the fighters will be tasked with defending south of Erbil as well as secure the party’s headquarters and bases.

He explained that the training was supervised by party veterans and field commanders, who have gained extensive experience during their more than two-year war against ISIS in Nineveh.

The commander noted that weapons and military vehicles that the party’s fighters are using are the spoils of wars against ISIS and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), denying receiving any financial assistance from external or internal parties, including the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

“Unfortunately, the Regional Government has not provided us with any aid or funding. Otherwise, the performance of the party's fighters would have been much better,” asserting that the party entirely depends on itself.

Officially, the forces are not part of the Peshmerga, but they share duties, noted Sharifi, adding that they receive separate funding and training.

“Our party represents an anti-Iranian regime force fighting for the independence of Kurdistan Iran, but our duties of national defense and safeguarding the dignity of the Kurdish people is what we have in common with the Peshmerga.”

He also announced that PAK fighters are fully prepared logistically to participate in any battle against the Iranian regime.



Israeli Strikes Cause Damage to Bridges in Syria’s Homs Province, State Media Says

A man rides a motorbike past a damaged building in Homs, Syria November 7, 2024. (Reuters)
A man rides a motorbike past a damaged building in Homs, Syria November 7, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Israeli Strikes Cause Damage to Bridges in Syria’s Homs Province, State Media Says

A man rides a motorbike past a damaged building in Homs, Syria November 7, 2024. (Reuters)
A man rides a motorbike past a damaged building in Homs, Syria November 7, 2024. (Reuters)

Syrian state media reported damage to several bridges in the Qusayr countryside of Homs province, attributing it to an Israeli attack on Monday.

Earlier, blasts were heard in and around Qusayr, a town in the southern Homs province, and authorities had said they were investigating the cause.

The Israeli military earlier on Monday confirmed a series of strikes targeting what they said were Iranian weapons smuggling routes through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon, adding that the operations disrupted efforts to transfer arms via Syrian territory.