ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Several Peshmerga officers will begin working with Iraqi forces at Kirkuk’s K1 military base on Sunday, part of efforts to improve coordination and intelligence sharing between the two forces in order to curb the movement of Islamic State (ISIS) militants, a senior Peshmerga commander told Rudaw on Saturday.
This will be the second point of cooperation between the Peshmerga and Iraqi army. The Peshmerga ministry sent a number of its officers to Diyala province last week after forming a joint operation room with Iraqi forces there.
Major General Qaraman Kamal, vice chief of staff of Peshmerga forces, told Rudaw that Peshmerga officers will be sent to Kirkuk’s K1 military base on Sunday.
The Peshmerga will also form coordination rooms with Iraqi forces in Makhmour and Mosul “this week,” Kamal added.
A source from the Peshmerga ministry said the Makhmour and Mosul centres will be established on Sunday and five Peshmerga officers will be based at K1.
There is a security void in areas between the Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq where forces of neither side operate. Iraqi forces drove the Peshmerga out of these areas in 2017 after the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum, but have not been able to cement their control in areas that are often rugged terrain and home to ethnically mixed populations. In some areas, the gap between the two security forces is 40 kilometres wide.
ISIS has taken advantage of the situation. The group has “successfully exploited gaps in security coverage in disputed areas along the boundary that separates the Iraqi Kurdistan Region from the rest of Iraq,” the Pentagon stated in its latest quarterly report on anti-ISIS operations.
Erbil and Baghdad have had multiple meetings to resolve their disputes and secure these disputed areas. Their new agreement reached earlier this month to cooperate against the ISIS threat does not include Peshmerga returning to the key disputed city of Kirkuk, according to Kamal.
“There is no decision for the deployment of Peshmerga forces to Kirkuk,” he said. “What is decided upon is that the operations cells will begin their work, consisting of military operations, intelligence, and coordination between Peshmerga forces and Iraqi forces.”
Yehia Rasool, spokesperson for Iraqi commander-in-chief and prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, confirmed to reporters on Saturday that they have formed a number of coordination centres in the disputed areas, which include Peshmerga forces as well, but their work will be limited.
“Their task is only to coordinate and facilitate the work of all sections as well as coordinate in the fight against Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym of ISIS.
The spokesperson for the global coalition against ISIS Col. Wayne Marotto said the joint coordination centres will operate under the "direct supervision" of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to coordinate and collect intelligence.
Kamal said forming these centres is not enough to curb the movement of ISIS there and called for forming a joint force as well.
ISIS militants in the disputed areas threaten local populations, extort money from them, kidnap and kill both civilians and security forces.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said in a conference in Erbil on Wednesday that ISIS is more active than it used to be in the past.
“We find ISIS more active than before in the areas known as Article 140 areas, and it constantly seeks to sabotage stability and security in these areas, and if we want political stability to be achieved in Iraq, these problems must be solved,” he said, referring to the disputed areas.
Additional reporting by Nahro Mohammed
Updated at 3:03 pm
