IRGC sends military convoys to Sanandaj, Kamyaran and Marivan

In recent weeks the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has sent large numbers of troops and military convoys equipped with heavy and semi-heavy weapons from other provinces to the cities of Sanandaj, Kamyaran, Sarvabad, Marivan and Baneh in Kurdistan province. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported this large-scale movement on Wednesday 21 October 2026, citing local sources in these cities.

According to a local source in Kamyaran, hundreds of IRGC special forces have been dispatched in military convoys to the area around the villages on the slopes of Mount Shahu and, after deploying in the area, have set up ambushes. The source believes these forces may belong to the Saberin unit, the IRGC's special unit.

Reconnaissance forces moved from Urmia to Sanandaj

Several sources in Sanandaj, Sarvabad and Marivan told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network that a group of IRGC reconnaissance forces was moved in recent weeks from the Hamzeh Seyyed al-Shohada base in Urmia to the IRGC's Beit al-Moqaddas base in Sanandaj. According to the same sources, these forces took part last week in artillery shelling and drone strikes on the Shahu heights and the mountains of Marivan. Another source reported the deployment of a convoy of IRGC forces equipped with artillery around Mount Surin on the border in Baneh county.

The IRGC and Islamic Republic officials have given no explanation for these deployments, and no report has been released on possible casualties from the shelling and drone strikes.

Militarisation of Kurdistan under the shadow of war

These movements are being reported as the IRGC has spoken of abandoning the Islamic Republic's defensive doctrine and of readiness for "all-out war". Over the past decades the Islamic Republic has repeatedly turned the cities of Kurdistan into barracks with a massive presence of military and security forces, including during the 2022 uprising, when IRGC convoys with heavy weapons entered Sanandaj and Marivan. The massive presence of IRGC forces, ambushes around villages and the shelling of the heights put the lives and safety of our Kurdish compatriots living in these areas at risk.

The IRGC has sent hundreds of troops with heavy weapons to the cities and heights of Kurdistan province.