-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: August 21, 2007 12:22:52 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Iran, Massed on Iraq's Northeast Border, Shoot It Out with
Kurds
Kurds flee homes as
Iran shells villages in Iraq
· Guerrillas in clashes with Revolutionary Guards
· Conflict threatens stability of Kurdistan region
Michael Howard in Irbil
The Guardian (UK), August 20, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2152324,00.html
Members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards participate in military
training at an undisclosed location near the Gulf. Photograph: AFP/
Getty
Iraqi Kurdish officials expressed deepening concern yesterday at an
upsurge in fierce clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian
forces in the remote border area of north-east Iraq, where Tehran
has recently deployed thousands of Revolutionary Guards.
Jabar Yawar, a deputy minister in the Kurdistan regional
government, said four days of intermittent shelling by Iranian
forces had hit mountain villages high up on the Iraqi side of the
border, wounding two women, destroying livestock and property, and
displacing about 1,000 people from their homes. Mr Yawer said there
had also been intense fighting on the Iraqi border between Iranian
forces and guerrillas of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an
armed Iranian Kurdish group that is stepping up its campaign for
Kurdish rights against the theocratic regime in Tehran.
On Saturday the Iranian news agency Mehr said an Iranian army
helicopter which crashed killing six Republican Guard members had
been engaged in a military operation against PJAK. Iranian
officials said the helicopter had crashed into the side of a
mountain during bad weather in northern Iraq. PJAK sources said the
helicopter had been destroyed after it attempted to land in a
clearing mined by guerrillas. The PJAK sources claimed its
guerrillas had also killed at least five other Iranian soldiers,
and a local pro-regime chief, Hussein Bapir.
"If this escalates it could pose a real threat to the Kurdistan
region, which is Iraq's most stable area," said Mr Yawar, who said
he expected the Iraqi government and US officials in Iraq to make a
formal protest to Tehran about the "blatant violation of Iraqi
sovereignty".
The escalation of tensions in northern Iraq came as a senior US
army officer renewed allegations of Iranian support for Shia
militias in the south. Major-General Rick Lynch told reporters in
the capital that up to 50 members of the elite Revolutionary Guard
corps had crossed into Iraq and were training Shia militia members.
Analysts believe PJAK is the fastest growing armed resistance group
in Iran. As well as the 3,000 or so members under arms in the
mountains, it also claims tens of thousands of followers in secret
cells in Iranian Kurdistan. Its campaigning on women's rights has
struck a chord with young Iranian Kurdish women. The group says 45%
of its fighters are female. Iranian authorities regard the group as
a terrorist outfit being sponsored and armed by the US to increase
pressure on Iran.
On a recent visit to PJAK camps in the Qandil mountains the
Guardian saw no evidence of American weaponry. The majority of its
fighters toted Soviet-era Kalashnikovs. In an interview Biryar
Gabar, a member of the leadership committee, said the group had no
relations with the Americans, but was "open to any group that
shares our ideals of a free federal democratic and secular Iran."
'No Saigon moment'
The forces chief who planned Britain's part in the invasion of Iraq
has rejected claims that Britain's withdrawal will be ugly,
embarrassing and akin to America's "Saigon moment" in 1975. "I
don't think it's sensible to draw any parallels between Saigon and
Basra", Lord Boyce, who served as Chief of the Defence Staff
between 2001 and 2003, said yesterday.
"The British are not facing what the Americans were facing in
Saigon, which was a well-equipped army as opposed to disparate
murderers and terrorists".
He was responding to claims by Bush adviser Stephen Biddle, who
warned the British would have to fight their way out in an "ugly
and embarrassing" retreat. US hawks have been expressing concern
over British plans to cut forces in Iraq and hope to press Gordon
Brown not to withdraw completely.
Jonathan Steele
Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.
www.ctrl.org
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