ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – US and Israeli strikes continued overnight across Kurdish-majority western Iran (Rojhelat), targeting military sites and bases of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as part of an intensified campaign against Iranian forces in the area. 

Footage submitted to The New Region showed that strikes have severely intensified in the provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and Ilam, mainly targeting government buildings and IRGC bases. 

Since the beginning of the war, “at least 109 military bases and security centers of the Islamic Republic of Iran have been targeted in 30 cities in the provinces of Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, and West Azerbaijan,” the Oslo-based Hengaw Human Rights Organization said early Thursday. 

At least 400 government forces have been killed in the four provinces, the monitor added, while nearly 40 civilians have also died in the Kurdish cities. 

The US and Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Iran on Saturday morning, and Tehran has responded with ballistic missiles and drones targeting Israel and US bases across the region.

The Kurdish-majority region of Iran holds significant political and geographic sensitivity, long marked by resistance to Tehran’s policies as residents face decades of discrimination, heavy security crackdowns, economic underdevelopment, and limited job opportunities.

Kurds in Iran are also among the communities with organized opposition groups and movements, with most having armed Peshmerga forces that have resisted Tehran for more than four decades.

Earlier in February, Kurdish opposition groups from Rojhelat formed a joint coalition aimed at toppling the Iranian government, with the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan announcing on Wednesday it had joined the alliance, bringing the total number of groups in the coalition to six.

The dissident parties, based in the Kurdistan Region, have long been military targets for Iran, drawing concerns from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over the Region’s security.

The Kurdistan Region has been repeatedly targeted since the start of the war by both the Iranian military and pro-Iran militia groups inside Iraq, who cite the presence of US military bases as their rationale.