Iranian Kurdish fighters say they are ready to fight, but are waiting for orders – national

Degala, Iraq – A rusted metal gate and a wind-torn flag mark the entrance to a Kurdistan Freedom Party base outside the northern Iraqi city of Erbil.

An anti-aircraft gun sits on the plateau behind the camp, which consists of rows of cinder-block buildings backing onto the scrubland hills.

A Kurdish fighter wearing camouflage, a scarf and running shoes, Ali Mahmoud Awara was terrified of being on the sidelines of war in Iran.

“All our bases are targeted by the Iranians,” he said.

The armed group Awara, also known as PAK, is one of a handful operating in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region.

Their ultimate goal is greater autonomy for the millions of ethnic Kurds scattered across the region without a homeland of their own.

They long for the downfall of the Iranian regime, which has long suppressed the rights, language and culture of the Kurdish minority.

As a result, the US-Israeli war that began on February 28 has sparked a heated debate over whether Iranian Kurdish fighters should join the fight.

They are definitely willing.

He was born in Iran but crossed into Iraq a dozen years ago to join a Kurdish group fighting the Islamic State.

Now his sights are set on Tehran.

Awara said he wants nothing more than to return home to overthrow the Islamic regime he despises. He yearns for it “with my heart and my body.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is trying to prevent Kurds like Awara from crossing the border from Iraq to open a new front in the war.

On March 4, Awara said three Iranian Fatah missiles hit a Kurdistan Freedom Party base, targeting the office of the group’s leader, Hussein Yazdanpanah.

A 10-year veteran of the group, Kawan Rashidi was killed and three others were injured. Yajdanapana was not in his office at the time and was unharmed.

“They don’t want the Kurdish movement to progress,” Awara said.

Three days after the attack, a pile of metal debris, which militants said were missile fragments, led to debris on top of debris.

Due to ongoing missile and drone launches, the camp was empty. When Global News visited on Saturday, the fighters were outnumbered by cats and dogs.

Kurdish fighters interviewed by Global News expressed confidence that they were ready to help take on Iranian forces.

The question is whether they should.

US President Donald Trump initially said he was “all in” to launch a ground war against the government in Tehran.

Over the weekend, the Kurds reportedly backed off themselves, telling them that while they were willing to join the war, it was already “complicated enough.”

Either way, even as Kurdish leaders sit on the fence about whether to get involved, Iran’s missile and drone attacks on their facilities have drawn them into the conflict.

The White House has denied reports that the CIA is arming the Kurds, but US forces are increasingly targeting Iran’s predominantly Kurdish west.

By taking Iranian weapons and military facilities near the Iraqi border, the US may be trying to clear the way for a Kurdish insurgency.

And with Trump demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender” but saying he is unwilling to send in US ground troops, the Kurds could help tip the balance.

But there are fears that a US-backed Kurdish offensive could spark a civil war that would divide Iran along multiple ethnic lines.

Also, Iraq, which was at war with Iran from 1980 to 1988 and is still recovering from the destruction of ISIS, is reluctant to enter into another conflict.

If Iraq’s northern region, already facing attacks on its US assets, hotels and Kurdish bases, becomes a staging ground, it could face something worse and threaten as much as Iran.

And Kurdish groups are wary of the US, which has a record of using them to advance American interests and then abandoning them when necessary.

“That history makes Kurdish groups wary,” said Yerevan Saeed, director of American University’s Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace.

“They are looking for political assurances from the Trump administration before fully committing,” Saeed told the Atlantic Council.

A spokesman for the Kurdistan Freedom Party confirmed that his organization was in talks with American and Israeli officials, but said no coordination had resulted.

But Khalil Kani Sanani said in an outdoor interview that the days of the Iranian regime were numbered, fearing an attack on the party’s office.

Although he denied receiving weapons from the US or Israel, he said Iran was well prepared to fight if Kurdish fighters decided to participate.

As for the latest attack on his leader’s office, Sanani dismissed it as Iran acknowledging the strength of Kurdish armed groups in Iraq.

Despite missile and drone strikes, Iran is in no position to threaten the Kurds, he said. “I think Iran is very weak,” Sanani said.

A senior member of another group, the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, said the Kurdish struggle against Iran and the US-Israeli war are separate conflicts with a common enemy.

“The reality is, this is a US-Israeli war,” Hassan Sharafi said.

But while his organization has been prevented from crossing the border to join the fight, its facilities have been attacked six times in the past ten days, he said.

The interview took place after Global News was initially told to leave the party office because of a possible drone attack.

On Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezheshkian said Tehran was ending attacks on neighboring countries and instead calling for diplomacy.

But when Awara visited his base later that day, he told reporters that the missile alert would be moved. The explosions were later heard far away from the site.

That night, Sulaymaniyah and another Kurdish base at Erbil Airport were attacked. Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani responded with condemnation.

“Everyone must clearly understand that there are limits to patience and restraint,” he wrote in his statement, warning that “this deliberate provocation towards struggle will have grave consequences.”

Instead of stopping, the attacks have escalated, prompting Kurdish factions to issue a joint statement assuring their members that the “fight to topple the Islamic Republic” will continue.

He said it was up to their leaders to decide whether Awara and his colleagues would get a chance to take over the administration of Iran.

We are ready to fight, he said. “Kurdish people want freedom.”

They need their marching orders first.

“We’re waiting.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca