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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish forces will not enter Mosul when the city is liberated from the Islamic State (ISIS) as they do not deem it necessary to do so, a Kurdish official and veteran Peshmerga said.
“Although nobody prevents us from crossing our borders towards Mosul, we do not deem it important to enter the city since we only advance to areas we believe are Kurdish lands,” said Sheikh Jaafar Mustafa, commander of the Peshmerga 70 Forces, noting that "wherever it is important to advance into, we do. Otherwise, we stay at our last positions.”
Mustafa believed a political agreement for governance of Mosul post-ISIS is crucial since it is not an Arabic province alone.
“Kurds find it necessary to reach a political agreement concerning the future of Mosul, apart from the military agreement since it is a diverse province where many ethnic groups live, including Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, Kurds and different religious groups,” Mustafa said.
In place of a political agreement, he explained, “A committee, under the supervision of America, between Erbil and Baghdad has been formed, through which any problems that may arise can be solved.”
Fighting ISIS in Mosul “is our priority as it has been posing serious threats to Kurdistan and the region in general. The more they stay, the more trouble the region goes through,” Mustafa added.
The Kurdish commander, who also attended a meeting between the German Defense Minister and President Masoud Barzani, revealed, “The Mosul offensive was at the centre of the discussions between Germany and Kurdistan.”
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visited the Kurdistan Region over the weekend. She reaffirmed on Friday in a joint press conference with Barzani in Erbil that her country’s military trainers would expand their training programmes for the Peshmerga forces, assist the Peshmerga in the anticipated battle for Mosul, and move closer to the frontlines to “save time and be more efficient.”
On September 19, Erbil, Baghdad, and Washington reached an accord concerning cooperation between the Peshmerga and the Iraqi army in the battle for Mosul during a tripartite meeting hosted by the Kurdish president.
The Mosul battle has stirred up rhetoric between Kurdish and Shiite militia, known as Hashd al-Shaabi, with both parties denying each other’s presence in the post-ISIS era in Nineveh Province.
In his remarks to Rudaw, Mustafa revealed “The Hashd al-Shaabi will not be allowed to take part in the Mosul offensive through the Kurdistan Region, at all. And there has been an agreement with the Iraqis that Hashd al-Shaabi is not going to participate.”
"The Americans and the Iraqi defense minister have told us that, in the first phase of the offensive, the Hashd al-Shaabi will not be allowed to get involved and they will stay out of Mosul city,” he added.
In earlier comments to Rudaw, Mustafa reiterated that five key routes to Mosul are held by the Peshmerga and “Iraqi armed forces cannot control any territory they lost to ISIS in Iraq without the help or coordination with the Peshmerga and the US-led coalition.”
He also said “The Peshmerga surround and control many areas and supply routes on the eastern and western sides of Mosul city.”
In contrast to Mustafa’s remarks, a Shiite militia official issued a strong warning to the Kurdish Peshmerga , saying that the Peshmerga should retreat from all areas they have liberated from Islamic State (ISIS) in Nineveh Province and that they “do not need the Peshmerga” to support Iraqi armed forces in Mosul.
“We are going to take part in the battle for Mosul and we do not need Kurds or the Peshmerga to assist our forces,” Karim Nuri, spokesperson for the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militias, told Rudaw TV, warning that they “advise the Peshmerga to protect the Kurdistan Region borders and do not distract themselves with entering Mosul. If they do, they will definitely be playing with fire.”
ISIS seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in June 2014 when the terrorist group swept into a third of Iraq, and Iraqi army forces in the city melted away in the face of the onslaught.
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