In Iraq's Mountains, Iranian Opposition Fighters Feel the Squeeze

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : Almost all of the Iranian opposition groups based there consider an independent Kurdish state an unattainable dream for now, and call instead for self-rule for the Kurdish regions within Iran.
51% : After years of division, many of the Iranian opposition parties in Iraq are now in talks to unite and present a more effective front, something that they say could benefit the broader antigovernment movement across Iran.
47% : "Millions of Iranians went to the front lines to protect Iran during the Iran-Iraq war," said Nevid Mehrawar, a member of the Komala leadership.
46% : "The leaders of this struggle are on the streets in Iran," he said.
45% : Now, older opposition leaders are pinning their hopes on the young Iranians leading the protests inside Iran.
44% : The Kurdistan regional government in Iraq -- which walks a tightrope between supporting Kurdish solidarity and inflaming Iraq's powerful neighbor -- bars the fighters from moving across the border into Iran.
43% :Iran has been attacking their mountainside bases with missiles and drones, forcing the fighters to disperse into tents scattered higher up the mountains.
42% : Most of the protesters who have fled Iran and sought refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan have come from Iran's Kurdish provinces, where the antigovernment demonstrations over the past two months have been particularly virulent.
42% : "Now their sons and daughters are saying, 'My father didn't give his life for this dictatorship.'"Iran has demanded that the Iraqi Kurdish regional government and the central government expel or disarm Iranian fighters or put them in closed camps.
40% : If Iran were to target civilian areas, it would be a significant escalation of attacks that have so far been directed mainly at the bases of the Iranian opposition groups.
38% : SULAIMANIYA, Iraq -- Sitting under an oak tree on a mountainside in the Kurdish region of Iraq, Mohammad Kurd said he recently fled neighboring Iran after two friends were killed by security forces and the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps started going door to door to arrest antigovernment protesters.
38% : More on the Protests in IranCities across Iran have been embroiled in demonstrations prompted by the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, while she was in police custody.
38% : He said it was not launching armed attacks inside Iran because it wanted to avoid undermining what he described as a civil revolution underway.
35% : Now, at its base near the border of Iraq's Kirkuk province, it helps hold the line against ISIS, but is also within sight of hostile militias backed by Iran that are part of the Iraqi government forces.
34% : Activists say there are no reliable estimates of the number of protesters who have fled Iran.
31% :Iran has accused Komala and other opposition groups of being separatists responsible for recent killings in Kurdish-majority Iranian provinces and of fomenting the demonstrations, but it has provided no proof.
29% : Near the base of the mountain about 50 miles from Iran, houses hit by missile strikes in September lay in ruins.

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