Heavy Clashes Erupt Between IRGC and Kurdish Opposition Groups Near Iran-Iraq Border – IranWire

Armed clashes between Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces and opposition armed groups intensified near the cities of Sardasht and Piranshahr on Wednesday evening, July 1, and in the early hours of Thursday, July 2, leaving multiple people dead.
The Hana Human Rights Organization reported that the clashes took place in the border regions of West Azerbaijan province. Hana added that IRGC forces deployed heavy weaponry during the operations, with fighting occurring close to populated residential areas.
Media outlets affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) announced that five members of the party were killed during a clash on Wednesday afternoon near the village of Qazqapan, on the outskirts of Piranshahr. Concurrently, Iraqi security sources reported a drone strike targeting a camp belonging to Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the Koya (Koysinjaq) region, east of Erbil.
In contrast, the Fars News Agency, which is close to the IRGC, reported that six KDPI members were killed in the clashes, without providing further details.
Meanwhile, the Sabereen News Telegram channel, associated with the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus, claimed that 11 members of armed opposition groups were killed across two separate engagements.
Military tensions in the border regions of western Iran have surged in recent days. On Wednesday evening, the KDPI reported a drone strike targeting the “Digala” camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
This followed an incident on the evening of June 29, when two IRGC members were killed in front of their residence in the city of Paveh. Following those killings, the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) announced that four of its fighters had been killed in subsequent clashes with the IRGC.
The IRGC’s Hamzeh Sayyid al-Shuhada Base had previously announced an operation supported by heavy artillery fire in the highlands between Mahabad and Piranshahr, claiming that a “six-member team” of opposition forces had been neutralized.
The border regions of West Azerbaijan and Kurdistan provinces have repeatedly witnessed armed conflicts between the IRGC and Kurdish militant factions in recent years, tensions that have frequently triggered IRGC missile and drone strikes against the bases of these groups stationed inside the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
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