AFP reports from Panjwin—a border town in Iraqi Kurdistan near Iran—that some local residents fear ongoing Middle East conflicts could once again turn border towns into battlefields.
Ahmed Faraj, a Panjwin resident who witnessed the town’s destruction during the Iran-Iraq War as a child, expressed concern over the potential escalation of conflict, telling AFP, “In war, borders cease to exist.”
In recent months, alongside rising tensions between Iran and the US, drones and missiles have been sighted over Panjwin. During this period, there has also been an increase in attacks by Iran and its allied Iraqi armed groups against bases hosting US forces and against Iranian Kurdish opposition groups.
According to AFP, although the intensity of violence has subsided since the conflict began, apprehensions remain in the border regions.
57-year-old Ahmed Faraj said he still vividly remembers the destruction of Panjwin during the Iran-Iraq War. He noted that “dozens of civilians were killed” in an attack on the town in 1981.
Subsequently, the town was evacuated, and the Iraqi government demolished Panjwin using explosives and bulldozers to prevent Iranian forces from establishing a foothold there.
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