US EditionAs Kurdish Fighters Debate Joining the Iran War, Their Bases Are Already Under Attack - National
Kurdish groups in northern Iraq face Iranian missile strikes amid debate over joining a U.S.-Israeli plan to challenge Iran, with around 40 million Kurds seeking greater autonomy.
- Amid the new war, Kurdish fighters are debating whether to join the fight as Iraqi Kurdistan leadership faces pressure, with strikes dragging them into conflict.
- U.S. and Israeli strategy aims to arm Kurdish groups to stretch Iranian forces and trigger an uprising, with President Donald Trump's calls to Kurdish leaders on March 1, while the White House denied arming reports.
- Reporters found missile fragments and nearly emptied camps after Iran's Revolutionary Guard struck three Kurdish locations inside Iraq on March 8, including a drone attack on an Erbil hotel, forcing evacuations.
- Iraq's government and the Kurdistan Region president have urged against using Iraqi territory as a launchpad, while Tehran's IRGC warned it would 'crush' separatists and target 'all the facilities'.
- On 22 February a five-party coalition formed, and groups like PJAK, reckoned to have around 3,000 fighters, face concerns about being used then abandoned by Washington.
13 Articles
13 Articles
How a Coalition of Iranian Kurdish Groups Could Influence the US–Iran Conflict
The Kurds are a stateless ethnic group with a significant presence across the Middle East, long accustomed to navigating the region's volatile geopolitics. While there are no official census figures, largely because they lack an independent state and are dispersed across international borders, estimates suggest their global population ranges between 25 million and 45 million. The vast majority reside in the mountainous regions spanning parts of …
Kurdish militias move to strike back at Tehran despite U.S. hesitation
U.S. President Trump said over the weekend he doesn't want the well-armed militias of the Kurds -- the northern Iran and Iraq ethnic group that has often aligned itself with the U.S. in the past -- to join the fight against the regime in Tehran. But the Kurds, who have their own longstanding grievances against Iran's ruling clerics, may not be waiting for permission.
Will Kurdish insurgents help America in Iran?
These are the four key Iranian-Kurdish armed organizations with whom Israel and the US appear now to be engaged in a tactical partnership against a common enemy—the Islamic regime in Tehran. By Jonathan Spyer, Middle East Forum The US and Israel rapidly established air superiority over Iran in the first days of the war now under way in the Middle East. Regimes, however, cannot be destroyed from the air. President Trump clearly has no intention o…
Between 4000 and 5000 Iranian Kurdish soldiers are based in Iraqi Kurdistan. They expect much from the American-Israeli operation in Iran.
Kurdish militias in northern Iraq would be the only available ground troops against Tehran. However, an offensive would have consequences far beyond Iran and their chances of success are unclear. Above all, a powerful player in the region has no interest in such an advance.
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