US reaffirms continuing work with Peshmerga

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – Col. Ryan Dillon, Spokesman for the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS), affirmed on Tuesday that the US continues its work with the Peshmerga.

That includes training Peshmerga, as well as an ongoing readiness to support the forces as needed, such as when IS attacked the Peshmerga on Tuesday in the Makhmour area.

“There is training [of Peshmerga] that is still underway at our training location in northern Iraq,” Dillon said, answering a question from Kurdistan 24. “So training is still underway, and we suspect that it will continue into the future.”

However, Dillon further explained, “as far as the advise and assist” mission, “we do not have coalition elements” that are “with [the Peshmerga] doing advise and assist right now.”

The reason was “strictly” operational.

“In areas that have been cleared of (IS), we don’t have elements on the ground,” Dillon stated. Thus, where offensive operations have ended, so too has the coalition’s “advise and assist” mission.

In that context, Dillon clarified one of the reasons for the confusion surrounding the October attack by the Iraqi Army and Iranian-backed Shia militias on Kirkuk and other disputed areas.

“We did not have advisors on the ground in that area at that point,” he said, “because we were in the middle of transitioning.”

“Hawija operations were done, so we were transitioning to western Anbar operations,” he explained.

At present, IS “does not control territory in areas in northern Iraq,” Dillon said. “Small groups that carry out sporadic attacks might still need to be hunted down, but they do not hold territory.”

Thus, the lack of coalition advisors with the Peshmerga in an advise and assist mission “is not political,” he affirmed. “It is strictly conditions-based.”

Dillon also confirmed the attack on Peshmerga, near Makhmour. The coalition was trying “to get some intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance over the area,” he said.

The weather was “sporadic,” however. It also inhibited the coalition’s ability to provide air support to “assist and help with the elements on the ground,” Dillon explained.

Kurdish officials have warned that the lack of political resolution with Baghdad would create risks of IS re-emerging in the region. 

Sirwan Barzani, Head of the Makhmour Peshmerga front line, said IS or militant groups similar to them would “exploit the weakness and lack of coordination between the Iraqi forces and Peshmerga,” warning the Iraqi government to “be aware of this danger.”

Editing by Nadia Riva