IRAQI MFA CONDEMNS REPORTED IRANIAN ATTACKS

S E C R E T BAGHDAD 001187

NOFORN
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/I, NEA/IR AND SAGSWA
NSC STAFF FOR OLLIVANT AND MAGSAMEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2019
TAGS: MOPS PREL PTER IR IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQI MFA CONDEMNS REPORTED IRANIAN ATTACKS
AGAINST KURDISH VILLAGES

REF: BAGHDAD 515

Classified by Minister-Counselor for Political Military
Affairs Michael Corbin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S/NF) Summary: In response to reports of Iranian
cross-border attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Iraqi MFA
summoned Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Kazemi-Qomi on
May 4 to demand a halt to the attacks and threaten "severe
negative consequences" if they continue. According to
unconfirmed press reports, Iran shelled a Kurdish village on
May 4, while witnesses claimed that on May 2, Iran launched
artillery, helicopter, and fixed-wing attacks against three
villages. However, U.S. military analysts have no
confirmation of what, if anything, actually happened in the
attacks, the latest confrontation between Iran and the Party
of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) on the Iraq-Iran border.
End Summary.


2. (U) Taha Mahmoud al-Abbasi, head of the Iraqi MFA's
neighboring countries' department, summoned Iranian
Ambassador Qomi on May 4 to deliver a note condemning
reported Iranian attacks on Iraqi villages and threatening
"severe negative consequences for relations between the two
countries" if the attacks continue, according to an MFA
public statement. The statement accused Iran of bombing
Iraqi border villages with aircraft, helicopters and
artillery, wounding "many" residents of the villages and
causing substantial property damage. (Note: Kurdish and Arab
press did not report any casualties.) Abbasi told Qomi that
Iraq understands Iran's needs to control the border but
emphasized that it should not take unilateral actions,
according to the MFA statement.


3. (S/NF) Since 2004, the PJAK has routinely conducted
attacks on Iranian military forces, killing an average of two
Iranian soldiers a month, according to U.S. military analysts
in Multinational Division-North. Iran has responded with
artillery strikes several times a month. In early January
2009, Iran threatened the terrorist organization Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK),which is based in northern Iraq and
launches attacks into Turkey, that it would face military
consequences if it did not order PJAK forces to leave Iran.
Between April 19 and April 26, the PJAK clashed with Iranian
security forces in the Iranian province of Kermanshah, which
borders Iraq and is home to many of Iran's minority Kurds.
Various press accounts reported that about 25 Iranian police
and PJAK members were killed in these clashes, although the
reported number of casualties varied. The Assembly of
Communities of Kurdistan Executive Council called on the PJAK
to stop the attacks on April 26.


4. (S/NF) On May 2, Kurdish press accounts quoted an unnamed
Iraqi border guard official who claimed that Iran launched
artillery and helicopter strikes on villages in the Panjwin
district near Sulaymaniyah. Arab satellite television
broadcasts included reports of witnesses that Iranian jet
fighters attacked the border villages. The following day,
the Kurdistan Region Council of Ministers' Presidency
released a statement calling on Iran to stop bombarding the
region's border areas. Mahma Khalil, a Kurdish member of the
Iraqi Council of Representatives, was quoted in Kurdish media
on May 4 criticizing the federal government for its silence
on the issue and demanding that Iraq's neighbors respect its
sovereignty. Iran launched another artillery attack on a
Kurdish village the same day, according to press reports.


5. (S/NF) Comment: While we have been unable to confirm
Q5. (S/NF) Comment: While we have been unable to confirm
whether the attacks in the remote, mountainous region
involved artillery, helicopters or airplanes -- or confirm
any other details of the often-unreliable press accounts --
the facts of the issue are now less important than the GOI
response to the reports. In the past, the GOI has declined
to publicly criticize Iran over violations of Iraqi
sovereignty such as the February flight of an Iranian
unmanned aerial vehicle shot down by U.S. forces over Iraq
(reftel). While PM Maliki is out of the country and FM
Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, is known for free-lancing, we suspect
this posture does reflect the Prime Minister's feelings about
Iraqi sovereignty. We will watch with interest whether
Maliki is willing to take a public stand on such issues
following his return from a trip abroad.
HILL