ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Regional Government will participates in the campaign to liberate the city of Mosul from ISIS militants only if Baghdad considers the region’s preconditions, said President Masoud Barzani on Monday. Barzani reportedly informed Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, in a joint meeting held Monday in Erbil, that the Kurds want assurances about their future role in the administration of the city before deploying Peshmerga forces. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, fell to the Islamic State militants last year. There are an estimated 700,000 civilians still holed up in the jihadist-held city. “We have reached consensus to cooperate in clearing the country of terror,” Barzani said, in a press conference after the meeting. Abadi also said cooperation was "discussed" on a joint campaign to free Mosul, adding that the two sides also talked about political, economic and social issues.
