and Iranian officials announce the “surrender” of the rebel PJAK fighters.
In the Iraqi Kurdistan province of Erbil alone, 884 Kurdish families have been displaced, and these families live in temporary camps, reported the International Organization for Migration. Shortage of food and clean water has given rise to concerns about the health and well-being of the displaced families.
“The families are living without electricity in the camps and are suffering from a lack of food,” a statement from the organization read. “There is also a fear that disease will spread due to families using nearby streams, which are highly polluted, as their source of water.”
Reports of children suffering from acute forms of diarrhea within the camps indicate that the camp-dwellers need medical and sanitary supplies urgently.
Most of the displaced families come from agricultural backgrounds and engage in subsistence farming. Their displacement has resulted in the loss of standing crops and livelihood.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Pasdaran announced that the rebel Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) has unconditionally accepted all of Iran’s terms and will confine itself to one kilometer beyond the Iraqi border with Iran.
“Last week, the members of the group held up their hands in ignominy as a sign of surrender,” said the deputy commander of the Pasdaran, Brig. Gen. Abdollah Araqi, last Thursday in Qom, according to Fars News.
They “finally held up their hands and asked what our conditions were, and we said that you should retreat one kilometer away from Iran’s border.
“As the second condition, we announced that they have no right to take military actions in our country,” he added.
“We also warned them that they have no right to recruit members from our forces and people.”
Araqi reported that, after the retreat of the PJAK forces, the Pasdaran now have “full control” of Iran’s border with Iraq, including what he called the rebels’ main base in the Jasusan Heights of the Sardasht region of Iran.
Before the recent offensive against PJAK, Iran said the group was based inside Iraq and used Iraqi territory as a sanctuary from which to launch attacks inside Iran. In recent weeks, however, the Pasdaran have been claiming that the main PJAK base was actually inside Iran all along.
It isn’t known if the Pasdaran were fibbing before to avoid admitting that PJAK was strong enough to base itself inside Iran, or if it is fibbing now to make it sound as if it has actually dislodged PJAK.
PJAK itself has been silent.
Araqi said the Pasdaran had inflicted heavy losses on PJAK, killing 180 fighters and wounding 300. He acknowledged some casualties among the Pasdaran but gave no numbers.
The Pasdaran started their operations in mid-July with the stated aim of curtailing PJAK’s ability to launch operations against Iran. Established in 2003, PJAK is an Iranian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which operates against Turkey.
Araqi alleged that PJAK fighters were being supported by the United States and Israel.
“At the latest clashes, they used modern mortar shells and air-defense equipment, especially the newest engineered bombs. Israelis trained the rebels how to use them,” he said.
PJAK and the PKK are both designated as terrorist organizations by the United States.