Fierce fighting in Northwestern Iran as Iranian Kurds assert independence from Tehran. - ADA News July 13th, 2019

[MSgt Falconer]

Fierce fighting in Northwestern Iran as Iranian Kurds assert independence from Tehran.

ADA News - Dateline July 13th, 2019

 

Fierce fighting has broken out in Northwestern Iran, near the Turkish border. Representatives of “Iranian Kurdistan” have released a statement declaring their intent to secede from Tehran and establish the a “truly independent Kurdistan”. Kurdish leaders Adnan Barishi and Berhem Ceto made their ultimatum clear to Tehran, demanding that Iranian forces would withdraw from the region known as Iranian Kurdistan and a peaceful transition of power to the local Kurds would take place within a month Theran wholly rejected the ultimatum and sent forces into the region. Fighting began on the 1st of July as Iranian forces in the region were ambushed at several major population centres including Piranshahr and Sanandaj. The fighting lasted approximately one week and as of today Kurdish militia units are in control of approximately 75% of their claimed territory. Iran’s ability to crush this uprising by military means are severely limited by the ongoing Iran-Iraq military standoff. Almost all of Iran's combat ready forces are already deployed at the Iran-Iraq border with skirmishes and “incidents” occurring almost daily.

 

Kurdish Peshmerga forces with Iranian POWs near the Iran-Turkey border.

 

This marks a significant shift for the Kurdish people in the middle east as they have so far been relegated to peaceful protests at best and violent but small scale insurgency at worst. International experts have declared Kurdistans declaration of independence as “rushed” and “hasty” considering there have been no similar declaration from the parts of Kurdistan currently located in Turkey, Iraq and Syria. The heavy US involvement in Iraq also faces a new issue as their kurdish allies now control territory on parts of the Iran-Iraq border occupied by the American 10th Mountain Division. Should Iranian Kurdistan’s declaration be followed by similar ones in Iraq the US would be pressed to chose to support either the Kurds whom were staunch allies in the face of ISIS resurgence and its current Iraqi allies. President Moore and his cabinet have been concerningly quiet on this matter, it remains to be seen if this de facto declaration of independence will coax an official statement out of the government. Tehran have, unsurprisingly, declared the uprising an "act of terror" and have blamed NATO forces for cover support of the kurdish militias. 

 

The UN has convened an emergency meeting where they hope a resolution can be made regarding the long standing issue of Kurdistan. Loud voices from NATO's European members such as Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have all come out heavily in favor of supporting the Kurds and to achieve some form of diplomatic solution. Following the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria increased calls for an Independent Kurdistan have been heard which has caused high level political headaches as Iraq, Turkey and the Kurdish forces are US allies in the region. The US would be forced to make a choice unless a UN resolution can be agreed upon. Either way Iran is unlikely to let parts of their territory slip away so easy. ADA News will continue to monitor the situation.

ADA News
Middle East division

Written by: Simon Tam
Edited by: John Argentina

 

*This news report is a fictional work created to support the 3d MRB ARMA gameplay*