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 the Kurdistan Freedom Party’s compound outside the northern Iraqi city of Erbil.

An anti-aircraft gun sits on the terrace behind the camp, which joins the rows of cinder block buildings back into the scrubland hills.

A Kurdish fighter wearing camo fatigues, a scarf and running shoes, Ali Mahmoud Awara was nervous about being there, because of the war in neighboring Iran.

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

The armed group Awara belongs to, also known as PAK, is one of the few active in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region.

Their main goal is greater independence for the millions of Kurds scattered across the region outside their own country.

They also long for the demise 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 debate about whether Iranian Kurdish fighters should join the war.

Awara is really serious.

He was born in Iran but crossed over to Iraq twelve years ago to join the Kurdish group fighting the Islamic State.

Now his eyes are on Tehran.

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

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been trying to prevent Kurds like Awara from crossing the border from Iraq to start a new war.

On March 4, Awara said that three Iranian Fattah missiles attacked the base of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, targeting the office of the leader of this party, Hussein Yazdanpanah.

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

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

Three days after the attack, a pile of metal scraps that fighters said were fragments of missiles lay in the rubble as evidence of what caused the disaster.

Due to the constant bombardment of missiles and drones, the camp was empty. When Global News visited on Saturday, the fighters were being overtaken by cats and dogs.

Kurdish fighters interviewed by Global News were confident that they are ready to help fight the Iranian forces.

The question is whether it should be.

US President Donald Trump initially said he had “made it” for them to launch a low-level war against the embattled government in Tehran.

Over the weekend, he reportedly withdrew, saying that although the Kurds were willing to join the war, he had told them that it was “complicated enough.”

Either way, as Kurdish leaders sit on the fence about whether to get involved, Iranian missile and drone strikes on their facilities have drawn them into the conflict.

The White House has denied reports that the CIA was arming the Kurds, but the US military appears to be focusing more on western Iran, which is predominantly Kurdish.

By removing Iranian weapons and military bases near the Iraqi border, the US may be trying to clear the way for a Kurdish rebellion.

And since Trump wants Iran’s “unconditional surrender,” but says he’s not willing to send US ground troops, the Kurds could help cut costs.

But there are concerns that the US-backed Kurdish offensive could start a civil war that will divide Iran along several 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 be drawn into another conflict.

Already facing attacks on its US assets, hotels and Kurdish bases, the northern region of Iraq could face the worst, if it were to become a stage, and Iran would wrap up too much.

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

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

“They are reportedly seeking political assurances from the Trump administration before making a full commitment,” 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 that no communication had taken place.

But in the interview, which was held outside due to fears that the party’s office would be attacked, Khalil Kani Sanani said that the days of the Iranian regime were numbered.

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

Regarding the recent attack on his leader’s office, Sanani dismissed it as Iran’s acknowledgment of the power of Kurdish armed groups in Iraq.

Despite its missile and drone attacks, he said Iran was not in a position to pose a threat to the Kurds. “I think Iran is very weak,” Sanani said.

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

“The truth is, this is a war between the US and Israel,” said Hassan Sharafi.

But although his organization has refused to cross the border to join the war, its facilities have been attacked six times in the past ten days, he said.

The interview took place after Global News was told to evacuate the group’s office due to a possible drone attack.

On Saturday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Tehran is ending its attacks on neighboring countries and instead wants to hold talks.

But when Awara visited his base that day, he told reporters to leave because of the missile warning. An explosion was later heard, though from a distance.

That night, another Kurdish base was attacked in Sulaymaniah, as well as Erbil airport. The president of the Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani, responded with a rebuke.

“Everyone must clearly understand that patience and restraint have limits,” he wrote in his statement, warning that “this deliberate incitement to war will have serious consequences.”

Far from stopping, the attacks have increased, prompting the Kurdish groups to issue a joint statement assuring their members that the “struggle for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic” will continue.

Whether Awara and his colleagues will have the opportunity to take over the Iranian regime is the decision of his leaders, he said.

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

They need their marching orders first.

“We are waiting.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca