Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops have been clashing against members of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), Iran’s main Kurdish militant group, along the Kurdish area of the Iran-Iraq border near Zalle since July 16. According to STRATFOR sources in the area, IRGC forces have launched artillery bombardments in the areas of Zalle and Sune. PJAK claims that around 10 of its members and 180 IRGC troops have been killed in the clashes, though the figures could not be verified. The Iranian offensive is unlikely to build into a regional crisis, as such skirmishes are common this time of year. Currently, the limited nature of Iran’s military activity in northern Iraq does not rise to the level of crisis that would allow the United States and certain Iraqi factions to claim that Iraq is too vulnerable for the United States to leave by the end of the year, but how far Iran’s military action will go in this offensive is yet to be seen.
