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Iran Deploys Tanks To Border With Iraqi Kurdistan

October 2, 2017

Iran Deploys Tanks To Border With Iraqi Kurdistan

Days before last week’s Kurdistan referendum, Iran took steps to isolate and punish the Iraqi Kurdistan region and the government in Erbil (KRG). This included closing Iranian airspace to northern Iraq’s two international airports and sending Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard forces to conduct drills along the northwest border with Kurdistan, but in the early hours of Monday Iran dramatically escalated its military build-up along the border by deploying dozens of tanks supported by artillery – this according to a Kurdish government official and Iranian state television.

The Kurdish official confirmed the tank build-up, saying “The tanks can be seen from the Kurdish side.” And Iranian state TV on Saturday indicated that Iran and Iraq would cooperate in joint drills and the establishment of heightened border security, to the point that Iran would “receive Iraqi forces that are to be stationed at border posts”.

Kurdistan 24 English ✔@K24English

|ian military drill on Kurdistan Region border (Haji Omaran Crossing Border) despite business being conducted as usual.

Iranian government officials had warned just prior to last week’s referendum that, “The republic of Iran has opened its legitimate border gates on the premise of the consent of the federal government of the Iraqi state. If such an event [referendum] happens, these border gates from the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran would lose its legitimacy.” It appears Iran is now making good on its threats as it worries that an independent Kurdistan at its border would be a destabilizing force concerning Iran’s own sizable Kurdish minority.

Last week multiple videos and images surfaced in Iranian social media purporting to show Iranian state police and security forces deploying to the Kurdish towns in Iran’s north. Multiple reports indicate pro-Kurdistan demonstrations took place in various Kurdish Iranian towns in response to the Erbil government’s referendum, something strictly banned and thus a rarity in the Islamic Republic.

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ISIL fighters make gains in northern Iraq – Middle East – Al Jazeera English

November 4, 2014

ISIL fighters make gains in northern Iraq – Middle East – Al Jazeera English.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has continued to gain ground in northern Iraq despite weeks of US-led air strikes, and are now moving closer to the Iraq-Kurdish city of Erbil.

ISIL fighters are battling Kurdish volunteer troops in the town of al-Kuwayr, about 60km southwest of Erbil.

However, national security expert Douglas Ollivant, of the New America Foundation, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that for now there was no immediate threat of ISIL closing in on Erbil.

Ollivant said that it is likely that the armed group will concentrate on al-Kuwayr, as they face a stronger resistance from Kurdish fighters and US-led air power should they make their way further into Kurdish areas.

“There are significant defences between these towns and Erbil,” he said. “Erbil and Baghdad are still safe at this point.”

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Olduvai IV: Courage
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Olduvai II: Exodus
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