Peshmerga official warns of ISIS threat in security vacuum of disputed areas

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A senior official in the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Peshmerga warned on Saturday of an imminent threat to security of many disputed cities due to the presence of ISIS cells.

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Peshmerga, Sarbast Lazgin, told Kurdistan 24 that ISIS is active in many disputed areas and is not limiting its attacks to members of the security forces. The group’s presence, he said, puts civilians living in disputed areas in “imminent danger.”

"The threat of ISIS is growing in the Kurdish regions, especially in the areas of Hamrin, Khanaqin, and Kolaju, as well as southern Kirkuk, Qara-Chogh, and western Mosul," he said.

Lazgin added that the international coalition against ISIS believes coordination between the Peshmerga and Iraqi army is important to ward off the threat before it escalates.

The Iraqi security forces and Peshmerga have recently formed a number of joint cooperation centers to try to bring stability to territory disputed by Baghdad and Erbil. There are also plans to form additional joint Peshmerga-Iraqi brigades in the contested areas.

Officials in the Kurdistan Region have previously said that ISIS threats are still serious in the disputed areas, and the group has carried out attacks in parts of Diyala, Kirkuk, Salahuddin, and Nineveh.

In retaliation for the Kurdistan Region's 2017 independence referendum, Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) pushed the Peshmerga out of contested areas. Since then, the areas have suffered from a lack of unified military strategy across large tracts of land ranging from Khanaqin in central Diyala province to Kirkuk and northward to multiple areas surrounding Mosul.