Iraqi Army cannot fill ‘security vacuum’ in disputed territories without Peshmerga help: Official
Tal’at reiterated the importance of joint operations between the two forces in the areas, saying the previous campaigns to fight ISIS remnants have been “very important”.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Army cannot prevent ISIS from exploiting the security vacuum in the disputed territories between Baghdad and Erbil alone and needs to cooperate with the Kurdish Peshmerga, a Kurdish official from Iraq’s Joint Operations Command told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday.
The Iraqi Army and the Peshmerga held a meeting on Sunday in the disputed Kirkuk province to discuss security coordination in the face of growing ISIS threats following the Hasakah jailbreak in northeast Syria.
Securing the disputed territories would require the participation of the Peshmerga forces as the Iraqi Army cannot do so on its own, Abdul Khaliq Tal’at, an Iraqi Joint Operations Command official, told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday in Kirkuk following the meeting.
ISIS militants recently attacked an Iraqi army outpost and killed 11 soldiers in Diyala province. On Saturday, the Iraqi military announced that it retaliated with airstrikes killing nine ISIS suspects in the same province.
Tal’at reiterated the importance of joint operations between the two forces in the areas, saying the previous campaigns to fight ISIS remnants have been “very important”.
ISIS controlled a third of Iraq in 2014. By 2017, the Iraqi Army and the Peshmerga had destroyed the Iraqi wing of its self-styled caliphate. However, thousands of ISIS remnants still operate in the country, especially in the disputed territories.