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.



Manchester Bombing Survivors Awarded Damages for Harassment by Conspiracy Theorist

Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo
Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo
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Manchester Bombing Survivors Awarded Damages for Harassment by Conspiracy Theorist

Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo
Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo

Two survivors of a bombing that killed 22 people at the close of an Ariana Grande concert seven years ago were on Friday awarded 45,000 pounds ($58,184) in damages after successfully suing a conspiracy theorist who claimed the attack was staged.

Martin Hibbert was paralysed from the waist down and his daughter Eve, then 14, suffered a catastrophic brain injury in the bombing at Manchester Arena in northern England in 2017, Reuters reported.

They sued Richard Hall – a self-styled journalist who claimed without evidence that the attack was orchestrated by British government agencies – for harassment.

Their case bears some similarities to defamation lawsuits brought against US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones by relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

Judge Karen Steyn ruled last month that Hall's conduct in publishing a book and videos about the Manchester Arena bombing and filming Eve Hibbert and her mother outside their house in 2019 amounted to harassment.

The judge awarded Martin and Eve Hibbert a total of 45,000 pounds following a further hearing on Friday, British media reported.