DUBAI: Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards used drones and missiles to strike the headquarters of a Kurdish militant group near Iran's border with neighbouring Iraq's Kurdistan region, the Iranian semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Friday.
"A large number of terrorists were killed and wounded in the attacks that had started from Wednesday to target terrorist headquarters and their training camps," said the agency, citing a statement from the elite Guards.
A report from Tasnim in Arabic and a tweet in English from Iran's Press TV described the strikes as taking place on the Iraqi side of the border. However, the full statement in Farsi said only that the strikes had taken place along the border.
The statement said the strikes were launched in retaliation for recent attacks by the group that killed at least five members of the Guards in northwest and western Iran.
"The Iraqi Kurdistan government is expected to take Iran's warnings seriously and not allow terrorists to use its territory as a shelter to train, organise and endanger Iran's sustainable security by carrying out terrorist attacks," the statement said. "The Guards ... will respond harshly to any aggression against Iran's security."
There are frequent clashes in the area between Iranian security forces and Iranian Kurdish militant groups based in neighbouring Iraq, such as the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), accused by Tehran of having links to Kurdish PKK insurgents in Turkey.
Iran strikes opposition positions on border with Iraqi Kurdistan
Iran strikes opposition positions on border with Iraqi Kurdistan
- A statement said the strikes were launched in retaliation for recent attacks by the group that killed at least five members of the Guards in northwest and western Iran
Syrian government says it controls prison in Raqqa with Daesh-linked detainees
- Prison holds detainees linked to Daesh, and witnessed clashes in its vicinity between advancing Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters
Syria’s Interior Ministry said on Friday it had taken over Al-Aktan prison in the city of Raqqa in northeastern Syria, a facility that was formerly under the control of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The prison has been holding detainees linked to the militant group Daesh, and witnessed clashes in its vicinity this week between advancing Syrian government forces and the SDF.
It was not immediately clear how many Daesh detainees remain in Al-Aktan prison as the US military has started transferring up to 7,000 prisoners linked to the militant Islamist group from Syrian jails to neighboring Iraq. US officials say the detainees are citizens of many countries, including in Europe.
“Specialized teams were formed from the counter-terrorism department and other relevant authorities to take over the tasks of guarding and securing the prison and controlling the security situation inside it,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Under a sweeping integration deal agreed on Sunday, responsibility for prisons housing Daesh detainees was meant to be transferred to the Syrian government.
The SDF said on Monday it was battling Syrian government forces near Al-Aktan and that the seizure of the prison by the government forces “could have serious security repercussions that threaten stability and pave the way for a return to chaos and terrorism.”
The US transfer of Daesh prisoners follows the rapid collapse of Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria. Concerns over prison security intensified after the escape on Tuesday of roughly 200 low-level Daesh fighters from Syria’s Shaddadi prison. Syrian government forces later recaptured many of them.
