Iran Mobilizes Forces on Border with Kurdistan

Members of the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDPI) check the damage after a rocket attack inside their headquarters in Koysinjaq in September 2018. (AFP file photo)
Members of the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDPI) check the damage after a rocket attack inside their headquarters in Koysinjaq in September 2018. (AFP file photo)
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Iran Mobilizes Forces on Border with Kurdistan

Members of the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDPI) check the damage after a rocket attack inside their headquarters in Koysinjaq in September 2018. (AFP file photo)
Members of the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDPI) check the damage after a rocket attack inside their headquarters in Koysinjaq in September 2018. (AFP file photo)

Gunmen from opposition Iranian Kurdish parties are increasing their activities on the Iranian border, prompting the army to boost its presence along the border with Kurdistan Region, according to residents of the Sidakan village, 90 kilometers northeast of Erbil in the Soran district.

Soran mayor, Kirmanj Izzat said the army has been amassing its forces there since last fall in anticipation of any military action.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the military has set up more surveillance points on the mountains, but has not entered the Region yet.

“We do not have accurate information on the size or strength of those forces,” he announced.

He indicated that the armed groups of the Iranian Kurdish opposition parties are still active, especially near the mountainous border.

Izzat expressed serious concerns about the possibility of an escalation in light of the ongoing operations by the gunmen, who are good at infiltrating deep into Iranian territory, despite the heavy military deployment.

He pointed out that this will negatively affect the situation in the border areas within the Kurdistan Region, calling on the opposition parties to consider the political and security conditions and withdraw from the area.

Izzat expressed concern over renewed escalation, citing Iranian artillery shelling that killed an 18-year-old girl and injured two of her brothers in the border village of Derri two months ago.

He noted that the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdish regional government are fully capable of controlling the security in the border areas, but they can not control the mountainous border.

Mayor of Derri, Sabri Kamal said that the residents had warned the gunmen against staying in their positions or launching attacks against Iran, which would provoke a response from Tehran that would harm the locals. The residents would take up arms and kick them out by force if they have to.

Derri is located at the foot of the mountainous border and sometimes comes under Iranian bombardment.

Kamal told Asharq Al-Awsat that the residents would be forced to defend themselves if the authorities continued to neglect the security of the village.

Residents were forced out of the village after the Iranian shelling burned down their farms and fields and regional authorities did not provide them with any compensation.

The opposition gunmen responded to the warnings and relocated their headquarters a few kilometers away from the village, but they are still in the area, said Kamal.



Western States Encourage Belligerents by Arming Israel, HRW Chief Says

Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
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Western States Encourage Belligerents by Arming Israel, HRW Chief Says

Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo

The head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that states supplying weapons to Israel as it pursues conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon despite evidence of violations of international law are empowering belligerents elsewhere.

Tirana Hassan, HRW's Executive Director, said that countries like the United States, Germany and Britain could influence Israel's actions and should do so by ending arms sales.

"If there continues to be military support to the Israeli Defense Force and they (Western governments) know that these weapons are being used in the commission of war crimes, then that should be enough for weapons sales and transfers to stop," she told Reuters in an interview.

"At this stage, the parties that could have some sort of influence and curb the behavior of the warring parties, when it comes to Israel, it's the US it's the UK, and it's Germany, and it's through weapons sales and transfers."

Israel says it takes care to avoid harming civilians and denies committing abuses and war crimes in the conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It says its enemies are fighting amongst civilian populations, making its operations more difficult, and that it is acting in self-defense. Reuters has asked the Israeli authorities for comment on Hassan's remarks.

Hassan said that when states which abused rights saw there were no consequences, they felt emboldened to continue.

Governments supplying them with weapons were undermining their own credibility as defenders of international law and human rights as well as the credibility of the international system, she said.

"It sends a message that these rules apply differently to us and our allies as they do to others, and that has really serious consequences," she said.

This contradiction when Western countries were demanding accountability for Russia's invasion of Ukraine was being exploited by countries like Russia and China, she said.

"They are very quick to point out double standards from the West and are trying to use that to undermine the system."

Hassan spoke to Reuters as the UN rights office released a report on the death toll in the Israel-Hamas Gaza war where it said nearly 70% of verified fatalities were women and children.

Palestinian authorities say that more than 43,500 people have been killed in Gaza in the 13-month war triggered by Hamas attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

"This should now motivate the world into action. There is really no justification for the killing of children," Hassan said.

On Oct. 13, Washington imposed a deadline for its ally Israel to improve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.

Asked about the likely impact of the election of Donald Trump in the United States, she said there was "little assurance" of his commitment to international law during his previous tenure as president.

"Now we have seen in some of the statements on the campaign trail threats of mass deportation of millions of people and this sends a very worrying message," she added.