Kurdish Peshmerga Drive into Eastern Iran, Engage Rev Guards in Bloody Combat

On June 23, Mustafa Hijri, the leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan-PDKI, disclosed that Peshmerga forces from bases in the semiautonomous Iraqi Kurdistan had crossed into the Kurdish region of eastern Iran.
“They bring a message of unity and equality for all inhabitants of Kurdistan,” he said, indicating that Iran’s Kurds had launched a combined operation against the Islamic Republic led by their more battle-hardened Iraqi compatriots.
Two days later, on June 25, the incoming Peshmerga forces clashed repeatedly with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) outside the Kurdish Mariwan region. breaking through Iranian lines several times.
The Iranian forces counterattacked later that day, first striking Kurdish troops in the village of Dorow in the Sawlawa section of Mariwan, then ambushing them in the remote Kosalan mountains of the region.
This week, the Peshmerga retreated to the mountains of Sawlawa.
They are beating back ramped-up Iranian units, which have brought up artillery and helicopters to enforce a military siege of Sawlawa.
Iranian shelling has destroyed many villages. Forests and hillsides have been set on fire.
Scores of Iranian soldiers have been killed. The bodies of eight IRGC soldiers are in PDKI hands.
The seesaw clashes between Kurdish and Iranian Revolutionary Guards forces continue.