Why united Kurds could be the biggest threat to the mullahs as fighters launch ground offensive against Iran
Thousands of Kurdish fighters launched a ground offensive inside Iran on Wednesday, according to reports — following claims that Israel and the US were hoping that the armed ethnic minority group could help overthrow the Islamist regime.The Kurdish forces are operating along the Iran-Iraq border, where its major militias are based, with the goal of applying pressure to Iran’s scrambling security forces, the Jerusalem Post reported.The ground offensive seeks to divert Iran’s military and security resources, which would open the way for an uprising inside the country, sources told the outlet.
It remains unclear whether the well trained Kurdish militias in the self-governed region if Iraqi Kurdistan will get involved.Some US intel reports suggested that Iraqi Kurds were also involved in the operation, though Aziz Ahmad, a top official in the Kurdish region of Iraq denied Kurdish fighters had crossed the border into Iran.On Wednesday, the president of the Kurdish region of Iraq talked to Iran’s foreign minister and pledged “cooperation.”The deployment comes after all six of the major political factions representing Kurds in Iran joined a new coalition on Wednesday aimed at forming of an autonomous territory within the country, the groups’ leadership announced.With more than 35 million people spread across the Middle East, the Kurds are perhaps the largest stateless ethnic group in the world.The Kurdish people predominately live in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran, with more than 8 million living in Iran, about 10% of the total population.The Kurds, however, have long faced oppression at the hands of Tehran, which has spent decades trying to erase Kurdish culture.“The Kurdish groups see what’s happening now as an opportunity in Iran to unite and stand for self determination,” Hewa Khalid, a Kurdish studies expert at Indiana University, told The Post.“The future depends on who comes to lead Iran and how they respond to the demand of the Kurds.
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