Politics

Peshmerga officials in Baghdad to develop joint operations in disputed territories

The Kurdistan Region announced on Thursday that a high delegation from the Ministry of Peshmerga met with officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense in Baghdad earlier that day to discuss security collaboration in territories disputed by both the federal and regional governments where the Islamic State has routinely taken advantage of the security vacuum to stage deadly attacks.

Mustafa Shilani 2020/07/02 21:39

middle east Iraq Kurdistan Peshmerga Army Disputed Territories ISIS

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region announced on Thursday that a high delegation from the Ministry of Peshmerga met with officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense in Baghdad earlier that day to discuss security collaboration in territories disputed by both the federal and regional governments where the Islamic State has routinely taken advantage of the security vacuum to stage deadly attacks.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has repeatedly emphasized the need to agree on a unified mechanism between the Peshmerga and the Iraqi army, backed of the US-led Coalition, to ensure stability in the disputed territories.

A KRG statement explained that, at the request of the Iraqi federal government, Peshmerga Chief of the Staff Lt. Gen. Jamal Emnaki and Secretary General Jabbar Yawar headed the team to the Iraqi capital, accompanied by several additional senior officers to hold discussions with the defence ministry.

Deputy Commander of Iraqi Joint Operations Abdul Amir al-Shamari was quoted in the statement, sharing that the two sides discussed the reactivation of joint committees and joint coordination centers that had administered security in the disputed territories in years past.

Iraq and Peshmerga forces together under joint coordination had provided security much more effectively than Iraqi forces and Iran-backed militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) have proven to be capable of, ever since they attacked Peshmerga and pushed them from the areas as part of Baghdad's hostile response to the Kurdistan Region's 2017 independence referendum.

The Iraqi army and the Peshmerga had previously reached a joint agreement of increasing collaboration, but it was never implemented, according to Kurdish officials.

The meeting concluded without any announced final resolution, but with both sides emphasizing the need to hold more meetings and discussions, stating that a delegation from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense is scheduled to visit the Peshmerga Ministry sometime in July.

Thursday's meeting comes one week after Iraqi Defense Minister Juma Inad Saadoun met with top officials in the Kurdistan Region, during which he reiterated the "necessity" of coordination in the disputed territories between the Iraqi army and the Peshmerga forces to combat the resurgence of the Islamic State.

"We discussed the ongoing threat of terrorists and spoke of the importance of strengthening the security and military cooperation between Baghdad and Erbil," said Masoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), in a social media post.

Also last week, a KRG delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani convened in Baghdad with the British and American ambassadors to Iraq on Thursday to discuss the latest round of talks between the regional and federal government on the pending issues, including security in the disputed territories.

According to a KRG statement, the two ambassadors threw their support behind reaching a meaningful agreement between the regional and federal governments.

Editing by John J. Catherine