Kurdish Rebels Battle Iran

Debmey

By Kenneth R. Timmerman
NewsMax.com | Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Kurdish rebels based in the rugged mountains along Iraq抯 northeastern border with Iran told Newsmax in exclusive interviews at secret guerilla bases that they have killed 200 Iranian Revolutionary Guards troops during clashes over the past two months.

Guerilla leaders of the Party of the Free Life of Kurdistan, PJAK, said they have clashed with Iranian forces 21 times during this time.

Iran has not admitted to the losses.

The intense fighting began on Aug. 16, when Iran and Turkey began jointly shelling villages inside Iraq where rebels from those countries have their bases.

Both Iran and Turkey are currently massing troops on their sides of the border with Iraq, in preparation for a ground and airborne assault on the rebel bases inside Iraq, according to published reports and information from local sources.

It took 30 minutes of difficult driving in an off-road vehicle for Newsmax and a Kurdish guide to reach the site of the first rebel camp, which is hidden on a hillside near the village of Marado in the flank of 10,000-foot mountains.

The area has been hit repeatedly during the recent Iranian shelling, and showed signs of freshly-burned fields and orchards.

During the most intense shelling, in August, many villagers abandoned their one-story mud and stone huts and camped in a hard-scrabble river valley 10 miles away.

The PJAK fighters appeared for the initial interview after walking two hours down steep, rocky paths from a mountain outpost overlooking Iran.

Biryar Gabar, 33, hails from Sardasht, Iran, and gave up a career as a chemical engineer in order to join the guerilla fighters. He rose through the ranks to become a member of the organization抯 political bureau, its central decision-making body.

New-Found Respect

Although he squats to wash himself at a mountain spring and often sleeps outdoors, he talks knowingly of strategy and international events over a simple dinner of raw cucumbers, tomatoes, fried potatoes, and bread.

揑t is not our goal to pick a fight with the Sepah Pasdaran,

Obersliutenant

Even the Turks are fighting the Kurds

Debmey

yes, all these countries are persecuting their ethnic minorities. Just like myanmar are oppressing their karens, shans, kachins and rohingas.

Obersliutenant

wasnt it because of the Kurds themselves being the ones to blame because they're itching for independance?

Its different from Myanmmar whose people are fighting for democracy... Another split for a free Kurdistan bordering three countries ? wouldnt that split lead to a more separated middle east ?