Iraq's PM orders implementation of security agreement in disputed territories

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has ordered the implementation of a security agreement between the army and Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga in areas disputed between the federal and regional governments, an official confirmed.

The federal government submitted a proposal last week to the Kurdistan Region to solve the "security vacuum" that ISIS is exploiting in the disputed areas. Prior to the proposal, officials in the Ministry of Peshmerga held meetings with senior military commanders in Baghdad to implement the security agreement.

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The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga, Lieutenant-General Jabar Yawar, told Kurdistan 24 that the last meeting between the Peshmerga and the army concluded with a decision to establish a joint security coordination center in the areas of Khanaqin, Kirkuk, Mosul, and Makhmour.

All four areas are disputed. A previous agreement that aimed at achieving similar objectives, including the formation of joint operations centers, did not go into effect.

"This [new] agreement was based on the proposals made by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi himself," Yawar added.

Yawar was referring to the agreement between the Higher Coordination Committee of the Ministry of Peshmerga and a committee operating under the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC).

The Peshmerga official noted that during an Iraqi military delegation's visit to Erbil on May 9, headed by National Security Adviser Qasem al-Araji, Erbil and Baghdad agreed to implement the joint security agreement after the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

"Achieving security and stability in the areas outside the administration of the [Kurdistan] Region necessitates coordination and joint action between the Peshmerga and the army," Yawar affirmed.

Recently, the disputed areas, including Kirkuk, have witnessed escalating violence from ISIS, and it is directed against both civilians and security forces.

Senior officials in the Kurdistan Region have repeatedly warned that ISIS has already begun to regroup, and they have urged Baghdad to increase coordination with the Peshmerga in order to track down the remnants of the terrorist organization throughout the disputed areas, starting from Khanaqin in the southeast to Sinjar (Shingal) in the northwest.

Editing by Khrush Najari