ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--With the advancing Iraqi army recapturing areas close and around the key city of Hawija in Kirkuk province, joint Kurdish and Iraqi forces prepare for a final push to drive out Islamic State (ISIS) militants from the city.
Iraqi army commander Wasfi Asi, who will lead the anticipated offensive for Hawija, has said several Iraqi forces will take part in the joint action, including the Sunni and Shiite militias, the police, the army and the Kurdish Peshmerga.
"Over 5,000 people have been killed or imprisoned by ISIS with some 25,000 refugees on the run from the city," Asi said.
Located at the crossroads, Hawija virtually connects the three provinces of Kirkuk, Nineveh and Salahaddin.
With just over 400,000 inhabitants, predominantly Sunni Arabs, the district has been at the center of insurgency since 2004.
The Iraqi government’s crackdown on Sunni protesters in Hawija in April 2013 notably intensified political divisions and sectarian polarization in the entire country.
Kurdish officials in Kirkuk say until the early 1940s most residents in the city were Kurdish but were pushed out of the area in the so-called Arabization process that changed the population demographics in the province in favor of Arab residents largely because of the strategic oil fields in Kirkuk.
In July last year families of Peshmerga soldiers taken prisoner by local ISIS militants in Hawija said they had reached an understanding with Sunni tribal leaders for a possible prisoner exchange between the Peshmerga ministry and the militants.
When the Iraqi army withdrew from the area in June 2014, tribal fighters affiliated with ISIS took charge of the city.
Kurdish forces in Kirkuk, which are in control of the northern main roads to Hawija, have in the past said they likely will not participate in the offensive without the full participation of the Iraqi army.
"We have our own plans and priorities," Peshmerga commander Rasoul Omar told Rudaw.
"We will join the operations but in cooperation with the Iraqi and coalition forces," Omar said and noted that ISIS militants in Hawija pose a direct threat to Kirkuk's security, located some 30 kilometres to the north.
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