Tag: Kurdistan Regional Government

The Iraqi security troops rekindled their relationship with the Kurdish Peshmerga forces this week as Iraq faces an Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) resurgence.

The U.S.-based representative for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq implored the Trump administration to help the region recover from the crisis it is facing after the military defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in an event on Tuesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu confirmed on Thursday that Ankara is preparing for a new military operation in Iraq, backed by the government in Baghdad, against the Marxist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist group.

Contents: Thousands of Kurds in violent protests against Kurdistan government in northern Iraq; Iraq’s Baghdad government splits over role of Iran-backed Shia militias

Iran-backed Shia paramilitary forces operating in northern Iraq have been accused by a Kurdish parliamentarian of engaging in “flagrant injustice” toward Christians in the region which until earlier this year was in the grip of ISIS terrorists.

The Trump administration’s opposition to the independence referendum approved by northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has prompted the Kurds to consider “revising” its mutually beneficial relationship with the United States, according to the region’s former president.

Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani announced this weekend that he would not seek an extension of his term after November, stepping down amid an invasion of his territory by the Iraqi army and the Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

Christians living in the Nineveh Plains, who only just returned home after the defeat of the Islamic State, are once again on the move, forced to flee as Kurdish fighters clash with Iraqi government forces north of Mosul.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq announced on Wednesday that it would be open to “freezing” the results of the September referendum asking Kurds whether they would support the creation of a sovereign KRG state.

A senior leader within the Iran-backed Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah has described the invasion of Kurdish-held Kirkuk, Iraq, as “a victory over the U.S. and Israel,” referring to the attack as “our victory” specifically.

The Yazidi minority in Iraq finds itself in an uncomfortable position as the Kurds consider acting on their successful independence referendum, while Iraqi troops move against Kurdish positions to make such a bid for independence impossible.

The Trump administration on Monday refused to take sides in a brewing civil war in Iraq between its Kurdish allies in the north and the Iraqi government in Baghdad, despite desperate calls from Kurdish leaders to intervene.

Contents: Kurds flee Kirkuk after Iraq army defeats them in complete rout; Devastating defeat to Iraq in Kirkuk exposes major splits between Kurdish factions

Contents: Mattis and Tillerson work to prevent Iraq vs Kurd military confrontation in Kirkuk; ISIS fighters permitted to leave Raqqa, Syria, with human shields; Syria demands ‘immediately’ pullout of Turkey’s forces from Idlib province

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which voted to secede from Iraq last month, warned on Twitter Wednesday that Erbil had intelligence that the government in Baghdad was planning a “major attack” on its military, the Peshmerga, in the disputed region of Kirkuk.

WASHINGTON — The United States warned that an independence referendum Monday for Iraqi Kurdistan to break away from Baghdad will “increase instability.”

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey warned Wednesday that plans by the leadership in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region to hold a referendum on independence could lead to civil war, in Ankara’s strongest warning yet against next month’s poll.

Some activists claim northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region is removing members of the Yazidi minority group for joining the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) or publicly opposing the upcoming independence referendum.

Kurdish officials are hitting back against Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has expressed “strong opposition” to a September referendum on establishing an independent Kurdistan in what is now Iraq.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the upcoming referendum on Kurdish independence on Iraq “wrong” and “a threat to the territorial integrity of Iraq,” despite his country’s friendly ties with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The Baghdad-sanctioned Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), a predominantly Shiite paramilitary group backed by Iran, has pushed out the U.S.-designated terrorist group known as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from areas south of the Yazidi-majority Sinjar region in northern Iraq.

The prime minister of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq described his recent visit to Russia as “an opportunity to expand the relationship” with the Kremlin “in all fields, including energy, economic and political sectors.”

The autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq will likely become an independent state after the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) is defeated in the country, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) told lawmakers.

Six armed Iraqi Kurdish parties have reportedly joined forces in advance of expected protests and clashes on Iranian soil on March 21, the Kurdish New Year known as Newroz.

A group affiliated with a predominantly Shiite paramilitary force backed by Iran and legally operating as a component of the Iraqi military has reportedly bombed Kurdish Peshmerga positions in northern Iraq’s Sinjar region, Rudaw reports.

The United States is expected to build its biggest consulate building in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq that has been pushing for independence.

Fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization of mostly Iran-allied Shiite militias, have established a presence in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region with the ultimate purpose of erecting a base there, Rudaw has learned from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a group the United States and other NATO allies designated a terrorist organization, claims its fighters will only leave Sinjar, Iraq, once it goes back to the control of the Yazidis, a minority group that calls the area its home.

Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in no uncertain terms that his government would consider deploying its Peshmerga soldiers against members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who have refused to leave Iraq’s northern Sinjar region.

Various officials from the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq have reportedly congratulated Republican Donald Trump for his U.S. presidential election victory, noting that they hope he will boost American support for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its Peshmerga troops.

Members of the Yazidi minority community in northern Iraq, targeted for genocide and sexual slavery at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), feel abandoned by humanitarian groups and governments that have shifted their attention to the growing number of displaced persons escaping the Iraqi city of Mosul, reports Rudaw.

Authorities from the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq have reportedly forced about 250 displaced Sunni Arab families to leave Kirkuk after Sunni sleeper cells were accused of helping Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists carry out an attack in the Kurdish-controlled city.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is expected to visit Turkey Friday, a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unleashed a scathing critique of the ongoing efforts by the U.S.-led coalition to push the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) out of Iraq, demanding a bigger role for Turkish troops.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — American troops, including some who are embedded with advancing forces, are “in harm’s way” as they collaborate with troops from Iraq, the Kurdish Peshmerga, and Iran-linked Shiite militias in the fight to retake Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), according to the Pentagon.

Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists are “dead set” on using chemical weapons and are likely to try to use them in an attack as U.S.-backed Iraqi troops advance on Mosul, which is considered the terrorist group’s last major stronghold in Iraq, warned the Pentagon.