It lasted six hours, resulting in property loss to civilians who were forced to escape from their homes, and get to safer zones.

“In the early hours, of Thursday, Iran began shelling mountainous areas of Erbil’s Sidekan district,” Karwan Karim Khan, Sidekan’s district governor, told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.  He said that “the ‘intense’ artillery bombardment had forced many local residents to flee their homes in search of safety, adding that four villages located in Sidekan district were evacuated amid intense shelling.”  Fortunately, no one was killed. However, forest fires were spread across stretches of farms at the region.

According to Abdullah, “The attack came two days after Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Mohammad Ali Jafari visited the Kurdistan and Azerbaijan region. During his visit, Jafari inspected the special Revolutionary ground units deployed in the zone, which has been lately rumored of being further refurbished with heavy artillery.”

A Kurdish shepherd living with his family of six in one of the bordering villages of Sidekan said, “Iran kills us on a daily basis, destroys our lives, burns our farms, killing our sheep and cattle, while the international community stands idle.”

Moreover, a reporter from a local Kurdish media outlet who was covering the incident was injured during the shelling.