ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary unit (PMU) has declared it controls the town of Qairawan, south of Shingal on Tuesday, two weeks after the start of a large-scale operation to retake the area from ISIS.
Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization, an influential military wing within the Hashd al-Shaabi announced they had launched an assault on the town last night and that managed to eventually reclaim it from ISIS militants.
According to Amiri, Iraqi fighter jets provided air support for the advancing Shiite fighters.
Qairawan, in the province of Nineveh, is located about 20 kilometers southeast of Shingal town.
There are 13 villages and complexes in Qairawan town in the Shingal region. The area falls under the disputed zones claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad and subject to Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution. The Hashd aims to control all of them, something Kurdish leaders, most notably President Masoud Barzani, has opposed.
The center of town is inhabited by Arabs, but the surrounding complexes and villages including Tal Banat, Tal Qasab, Kocho and Gir Azer are mostly Yezidi.
The state-backed PMUs are continuing their newest offensive for a 12th day in a row. They are working to recapture the remaining areas still under control of the extremist group near the Syrian border.
In addition to Qairawan, a main objective for the newest offensive is retaking Baa’j which is located west of Mosul and close to the Syrian border.
Kurdish officials have indicted they aren’t opposed to working with Iraq's irregular forces.
"Hashd al-Shaabi or the Popular Mobilization Forces as they are known are from many different backgrounds, many different groups within the PMF. We don't have anything against the PMF. They have fought alongside the Iraqi forces when they were needed,” Kurdistan Region Security Council Chancellor Masrour said at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., on May 16.
The relationship is based on a mutual respect.
“The only concern that we have is some of the statements from some of their leaders haven't been very supportive when we've talked to them. We do believe they must respect our mutual friendship and to respect the rule of the Kurds and the boundaries of Kurdistan and the sacrifices of Peshmerga in liberating those areas,” Barzani added.
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