Peshmerga launch operation against ISIS in Garmiyan area
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces with the support of French special forces carried out an operation against the terrorist group near the Dawda area of Kifri late on Tuesday, killing eight militants, sources told Kurdistan 24.
ISIS positions and caves were targeted in the Dawda area, which lies between the districts of Kifri and Tuzkhurmatu. Fighter jets, and helicopters assisted in the operation, a Kurdistan 24 correspondent in the area reported. Kurdistan Regional Government Vice President Jafar Sheikh Mustafa said the special forces from Unit 70 carried out the overnight operation.
A Western military official told Kurdistan 24 that the French Special Forces participated bilaterally outside the anti-ISIS coalition.
Peshmerga and coalition forces attacked ISIS positions in the Garmiyan area in revenge for the killing of a Peshmerga before Eid al-Fitr pic.twitter.com/PuHggIG0AA
— Kurdistan 24 English (@K24English) June 2, 2021
The operation was revenge for the killing earlier this month of a Peshmerga fighter, 45-year-old Mohsen Hussen, who was injured by an ISIS sniper on May 11 and later died on his way to hospital.
Kifri lies within the Garmiyan area, an unofficial province of the Kurdistan Region, and in territory disputed between the KRG and Baghdad. Kurdish Peshmerga and Asayish forces are in charge of security in Garmiyan, while national Iraqi forces control the region to its south and west.
The Peshmerga and Iraqi forces have recently begun joint monitoring of ISIS activity in disputed areas amid a surge in ISIS attacks in the area. ISIS and other armed groups are able to exploit the security gap in disputed territories where the Peshmerga were ousted from in 2017.
Recently, ISIS attacks on Peshmerga forces from Kurdish areas outside of the official Kurdistan Region have increased. Moreover, ISIS militants have kidnapped Kurds near the Garmyan area by setting up fake checkpoints.
Four out of six planned joint coordination centers have recently been established in the area following extensive negotiations between Erbil and Baghdad.
The disputed areas have suffered from the lack of unified military communication and strategy in large tracts of land ranging from the disputed territories ranging from Khanaqin in central Diyala province to Kirkuk and northward to multiple areas surrounding Mosul.
On May 4, a US Department of Defense Inspector General report covering the first quarter of the year said “ISIS used the mountainous regions in northern and north-central Iraq to conduct ambushes and IED [improvised explosive device] attacks” against the Peshmerga, Iraqi security forces, and Popular Mobilization Forces militias.
ISIS “also successfully exploited gaps in security coverage in disputed areas along the boundary that separates the Iraqi Kurdistan Region from the rest of Iraq,” the report said.
Harem Jaff contributred reporting from Kifri. Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly
This story was updated on 2 June, 2021 at 1000 GMT to reflect that French forces, not the anti-ISIS coalition, assisted the Peshmerga in the operation.
