Human Rights Watch (HRW) Wednesday reported that the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) attack on Iranian-Kurdish opposition group offices in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in September 2022 “struck towns and villages where the parties were not carrying out any military activity.” IRGC claimed responsibility for the attacks on the Iranian-Kurdish opposition group offices, referring to the targets as “terrorist bases.”

On September 24,  the IRGC launched drone attacks against the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) in Erbil’s Sidakan district. The IRGC accused the Kurdish parties of inciting “chaos” in Iran amid demonstrations condemning the death of Mahsa  Amini, who died in the custody of Iran’s Morality Police. Iranian authorities have responded to weeks of protests with brutal violence, killing and injuring hundreds of protesters.

On September 28, the Iranian military again struck the offices of the KDPI and the Komala party in the Koya district of Erbil governorate and the Zargwezalla residential complex in Sulaymaniyah governorate. UNICEF reported that the attacks in Koya struck a school in a refugee settlement, injuring two children and killing a pregnant woman.

Adam Coogle, Deputy Middle East Director for HRW said:

[IRGC] forces’ attacks on residential areas in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is part of a long history of lethal attacks on civilians, including during the war in Syria Countries seeking to hold Iran accountable for its brutal crackdown in recent days should also ensure that those responsible for indiscriminately killing civilians abroad are held accountable as well.

HRW reported that these attacks killed at least 16 people, injured dozens more, and displaced hundreds of families.