Ansar al-Islam fighters in the Islamic Emirate of Byara embraced both their Kurdish and Muslim identities and advocated for a religious, cultural, and traditional lifestyle, hence why Ansar al-Islam fighters wore Kurdish clothes and spoke only in Kurdish, and encouraged their supporters to do the same. It was also reported that Ansar al-Islam committed inhumane atrocities against non-Muslims, enforcing strict Sharia law, destroying anything they claimed to be "un-Islamic", and desecratingSufidargahs and khanqahs. Human Rights Watch accused Ansar al-Islam of torturing prisoners and executing any captured Peshmerga, Iraqi Army, US Army, or any foreign soldiers, usually by beheading.[6][7][8] The IRGC were criticised for their recklessness about what was happening at their border.[3]
The Emirate ended after the United States launched Operation Viking Hammer in 2003. After the loss of the Emirate, Ansar fighters gathered at the Iran–Iraq border, where they were smuggled into Iran by Iranian Kurdish jihadists. The IRGC arrested many and sent them back to Iraqi Kurdistan to be arrested.[9] The KRG says that Iran also ignored many of them as long as the jihadists arrived secretly and quietly, and would be housed in remote areas. The IRGC allegedly warned Iranian Kurds who were housing jihadists that if they were seen publicly, they would be arrested and sent back to Iraq. Some Kurdish jihadists brought their families with them to Iran; some were detained by authorities for two brief weeks, and then were released and allowed to stay. Some jihadists settled in Iran, with others returning to Iraq, either joining the Iraqi insurgency, or going back to their ordinary lives and quitting the jihadist lifestyle.[1][2][3][10][11][12]
Aftermath
In late 2016, around the 15th anniversary of Byara, Mullah Krekar said that "I hope we separate from Iraq as soon as possible. I would support it wholeheartedly. We were annexed to the Iraqi state under force in 1921, a state that is a failed state in every sense. The first time Iraq purchased aircraft, they bombed the Kingdom of Kurdistan and Sulaymaniyah. If a tiny part of Kurdistan is separated from Iraq and declares independence, I will endorse it fully. When Mauritania declared independence, they didn't even have a building to wave their flag upon, but still they declared independence." He also said that he holds no animosity against any Kurdish government officials anymore, and that many of his friends and family are in the Kurdish government. Hoshyar Zebari confirmed that the Kurdish government made peace with Krekar.[13]
