By Dr. Pshtiwan Faraj | Kurdish Policy Analysis Intensifying U.S. strikes on IRGC positions in northwestern Iran are fueling speculation over whether Kurdish opposition groups could play a larger role on the ground. Is a New Front Opening Against Iran? U.S. Airstrikes Raise Questions About Kurdish Ground Operations
Kurdish parties in East Kurdistan have told Al-Hurrah that the intensification of US attacks on Iranian regime bases in the northwest of the country in recent days may facilitate a ground confrontation against Iranian forces involving Kurdish fighters.
Sources said the recent US attacks on Iran have caused heavy damage to the Revolutionary Guards and its institutions in predominantly Kurdish areas of the country's west.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Thursday morning it launched a two-hour wave of intense attacks on Iran, targeting dozens of Iranian Revolutionary Guards bases, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, naval surveillance and defense bases and naval capabilities.
Iranian television said Thursday morning that the US military had launched an air strike on areas bordering Iraq in northwestern Iran.
He added that the town of Piranshahr in West Azerbaijan province was hit by US air strikes.
The bombing in West Azerbaijan province "caused no material or human damage because it hit an empty area of buildings and residents," Fars news agency said.
Iranian official media reported that three people were killed in attacks by US forces on the island of Qeshm.
A Kurdish leader of an Iranian opposition party told Al-Hurrah that the intensification of US attacks on Revolutionary Guards bases and headquarters in northwestern Iran "is a sign of changing the next phase of the war to pave the way for an expected ground movement against the Iranian regime.
The Kurdish opposition leader said the Iranian regime's military and security weakness would make it easier to launch an "armed uprising in these areas that could spread to other cities.
Iran would not disclose the extent of the damage, but the Kurdish opposition leader said US and Israeli air strikes since the beginning of the war on February 28 had destroyed more than 60 percent of Iran's security and military infrastructure in predominantly Kurdish areas.
Kurds, who make up about 10 percent of Iran's population and are concentrated in the northwestern provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, West Azerbaijan and Ilam, are concerned about being deprived of their rights by the Iranian regime. Several Iranian Kurdish opposition parties have made the Iraqi Kurdistan Region their headquarters.
Khalil Nadri, spokesman for the opposition Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), told Al-Hurrah that US attacks targeting Iran's Revolutionary Guards and military infrastructure "are very important and will help us remove major obstacles as we move inland to liberate our territory Let him destroy them.
He stressed that Kurdish forces are ready to move against the Iranian regime if they receive international support, which he said should also prevent Turkey from moving against them.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have redeployed and relocated their forces in northwestern Iran, assembling large amounts of weapons, missiles and drones in Kurdish cities and turning them into military zones.
The Tabnak news agency, which is close to the Supreme Leader's Council of Experts in Iran, has released a video showing military exercises in the mountains and valleys of Kurdish-majority areas in northwestern Iran.
"The Kurds are part of this war whether they like it or not," said Farzin Karbasi, an Iranian Kurdish opposition political analyst in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
Despite previous strong US attacks, Karbasi believes there is a need for larger US attacks on the Revolutionary Guards and their bases in Iran's Kurdish-majority areas, noting that most of these military facilities have not yet been attacked.
Karbasi predicts an armed defense in northwestern Iran led by Kurdish parties if the Iranian regime continues its attacks against the Kurds as it is now.
Jamil Ahmadi, an opposition Kurdish political activist in Europe, told Al-Hurrah that there is a possibility of military movement of Kurdish parties in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region towards Kurdish areas of Iran to seize this opportunity to confront the regime and lead a mass uprising.
He says these parties are looking for a new opportunity to end the criticism they face at home and from the masses and their members for not taking advantage of the opportunity of the past 40 days of war and not acting against the Iranian regime.
He says Kurdish parties have not yet received any international assurances against moving against the regime.
Read More:
Could a Kurdish front ever become a reality in the U.S-Iran War?
The Kurdish front America never opened: how Washington missed its greatest strategic opportunity against Iran
Erbil under fire: how Iran's drone campaign is turning Iraqi Kurdistan into the frontline of a new regional war
#Iran #UnitedStates #Kurdistan #IRGC #MiddleEast #Geopolitics
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