“We will pursue the counterrevolutionaries to secure our borders and to stop the terrorists from infiltrating and harming our people,” Col. Hamid Ahmadi of the Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards) told foreign media.
He also said Iran is ready to build border security posts to be manned by Iraqi forces to stop the infiltration of the fighters from the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan, known as PJAK from its Kurdish initials.
However, Iraqi authorities and officials of the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government just complained that Iran was violating their sovereignty by shelling positions within Iraq’s borders.
Iraq’s parliament speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi, called for the “immediate cessation of Iranian shelling of Iraqi territory, which is considered a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, after weeks of silence, finally joined in the criticism of the Iranian shelling earlier this month, although his words were surprisingly mild and appeared to be an effort to respond to domestic anger over the shelling without at the same time arousing Iranian ire. (See last week’s Iran Times, page one.)
Iranian authorities have asserted their right to defend Iran against PJAK activities and maintained that they will continue to target insurgent bases from afar, without, they said, entering Iraqi territory.
“We have not set foot on Iraqi soil and our operations are focused on the frontier itself. But if we see a pocket of three to four terrorists infiltrating the borders, we will confront them,” Ahmadi said. Kurdish sources, however, have said that Iranian ground troops have repeatedly entered Iraqi territory.
Iran has been conducting operations against PJAK intermittently for several years, but the current campaign – which began July 16 – is unusually long.
International humanitarian organizations have reported displacements of hundreds of Kurdish villagers due to the Iranian shelling, and local Kurdish authorities and residents have made unverifiable reports of a handful of civilian deaths.
The Red Cross said last month that hundreds of Kurdish villagers were displaced, and the International Organization for Migration had said that it was providing relief services to displaced Kurds.
Iran denies shelling civilian areas and maintains that it exercises proper caution to avoid harming civilians.
“We do not shell villages at all. We shell terrorist hideouts accurately,” Ahmadi told reporters. “Even if there is terrorist presence near a village, we do not shell it,” he emphasized. Villagers have disputed that for years.
As to the combat death toll, Ahmadi said as many as 50 PJAK fighters had been killed in the operation so far, also acknowledging that three Pasdaran had been killed by the rebels.
But Pasdar Commander Masjedi earlier told the Mehr news agency that, in total, the Pasdaran had lost 17 soldiers in recent weeks; PJAK claims it has killed about 200.
Meanwhile, one Pasdar officer asserted that the Pasdar operation was so successful that PJAK would “completely surrender” within the next two months. He didn’t explain why PJAK would ever surrender when it could just take sanctuary deeper in Iraqi’s Kurdistan
Two weeks ago, PJAK leader Abdul-Rahman Haji-Ahmad, who is based in Germany, said his group would lay down its weapons if it were allowed to participate in the political process in Iran. This offer was roundly rejected by Iranian authorities.
Meanwhile, Turkish warplanes carried out raids on Kurdish rebel positions near Mount Qandil, which is the main area where PJAK fighters are battling Iranian forces. The Turkish raid, however, is aimed at the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), the chief Kurdish group battling the Turkish government. The PKK and PJAK are affiliated to one another.
In the wake of recent attacks from the PKK that has left 40 Turkish soldiers dead, Turkey has vowed to intensify its military efforts against the Kurdish rebels.
In response, the Iraqi government objected to the Turkish raids but also criticized the rebels for attacks on Turkish targets.