Iran's assault on Iraq's Kurdish region seen as diversionary tactic

Iran's intermittent bombardment of northern Iraq's Kurdish region in recent weeks not only is a severe and alarming violation of Iraq's sovereignty but also is being seen a tactic to divert attention from the turmoil inside Iran.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have conducted sporadic attacks on Kurdish bases in northern Iraq in September and October under the pretext of defending Iran's sovereignty, as the Iranian regime accuses Kurdish opposition groups of "separatism, terrorism and fueling unrest in Iran".

In the latest of a string of attacks, the IRGC on October 4 launched an artillery assault on a base of the Iranian Kurdish opposition party Komalah in the Kurdish region, party leader Abdullah Mohtadi told the New York Times.

Mohtadi said two people were injured in the shelling of the main base, about 16 km southwest of the city of Suleimaniyah.

The United Nations (UN) said that an Iranian assault the week before hit Iranian refugee settlements in Iraq's Kurdish region.

Local officials said at least nine civilians were killed, and at least 32 injured in the September 28 attack.

Iranian forces targeted the area around Koya, in Iraq's Erbil province, which hosts some 500 Iranian Kurdish refugee families.

On September 26, the IRGC launched the largest offensive on Kurdish bases in northern Iraq in the past 10 years.

The assault killed 13 people -- including a pregnant woman -- and wounded a further 58, most of them civilians, including children under the age of 10, according to local forces in Iraq's Kurdish region.

Kurdish sources said the attacks comprised more than 70 bombardments carried out by "ballistic missiles" and "armed drones".

Attesting to the attacks on September 29, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the IRGC ground forces, said the positions of "anti-Iranian terrorists" in northern Iraq were targeted "by the IRGC drone and missile units".

On October 9, the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported that Iran had stopped the attacks on Kurdish bases in Iraq in order to allow regional authorities an opportunity to confront Kurdish groups.

The attacks would either stop entirely or resume, the report said, adding that the direction they take "would depend on the behaviour of regional authorities".

Commenting on Iran's assault on Iraq's Kurdish region, political expert Aziz Safari said Tehran is carrying out these attacks in order to divert the public's attention from the deterioration of the situation inside Iran.

Widespread condemnation

Both the Iraqi government and the government of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region have spoken out against the IRGC's attacks.

On September 28, the Iraqi foreign ministry said it had summoned Iran's ambassador to inform him of Iraq's official objection to the attacks.

Iraqi ministers also condemned the attacks during a special ministerial council meeting for national security on October 1, chaired by then-Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhemi.

Iraq's parliament on October 9 tasked defence and foreign affairs committees to co-operate with the federal government and the Kurdish regional government to conduct a full investigation into the attacks.

Iraqi parliament Deputy Speaker Shahvan Abdallah said parliament is obligated to take all necessary measures to prevent Iran from further attacking the Kurdish region.

In a September 28 statement, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said the United States stands with Iraq's leaders in the Kurdish region and Baghdad in condemning the attacks as "an assault on the sovereignty of Iraq and its people".

"Iranian leaders continue to demonstrate flagrant disregard not only for the lives of their own people, but also for their neighbours and the core principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity enshrined in the UN Charter," he said.

"Iran cannot deflect blame from its internal problems and the legitimate grievances of its population with attacks across its borders," he added.

"Its flagrant use of missiles and drones against its neighbours, as well as its providing of drones to Russia for its war of aggression in Ukraine and to proxies throughout the Middle East region, should be universally condemned."

In an October 1 statement, the European Union (EU) condemned the IRGC's deadly attacks on the Kurdish region of Iraq "in the strongest possible way".

"We sympathise with the victims and their families. These attacks violate Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity," it said.