Qassim al-Aaraji met with Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. They “spoke about the latest developments in Iraq and highlighted the importance of continued and enhanced coordination between the Peshmerga and Iraqi security forces,” read a statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) following the meeting.
Barzani informed Aaraji that the situation in the disputed areas requires “particular attention and significant cooperation” to end threats imposed by ISIS militants, according to the Kurdish statement.
The Iraqi security advisor also met with President of Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani. “Both sides stressed… the importance of cooperation and coordination between the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army in the fight against terrorism, and tracking ISIS movement to ensure the elimination of the group,” read a statement from the president’s office.
At the height of its power between 2014 and 2016, ISIS controlled an area roughly the size of Great Britain, spread across both Iraq and Syria. Although Baghdad announced the territorial defeat of ISIS in Iraq in December 2017, remnants of the group have returned to their earlier insurgency tactics, ambushing security forces, kidnapping and executing suspected informants, and extorting money from vulnerable rural populations, particularly in territory disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
According to an intelligence assessment by the Center for Global Policy in May, ISIS has 3,500 to 4,000 active and 8,000 inactive militants in Iraq.
The Iraqi defense ministry and KRG Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs agreed in July to establish three joint coordination rooms to eliminate ISIS cells active in the disputed areas that stretch across Kirkuk, Diyala, Salahaddin, and Nineveh provinces.
The recent wave of ISIS attacks have come as the US and the international anti-ISIS coalition are drawing down and consolidating their missions in both Iraq and Syria.
US-led coalition forces have been in Iraq since 2014 to train and advise Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers in the fight against ISIS. The coalition is now reducing its commitment and handing control of bases over to local forces, arguing that Iraqi forces have gained the capacity to combat a degraded ISIS independently.
The coalition has handed over control of eight military bases to the Iraq Security Forces (ISF) this year.
The reduced military supervision could present ISIS remnants in Iraq with a unique opportunity to launch more frequent attacks and expand their influence, particularly in the disputed territories where there are security gaps between Kurdish and Iraqi forces.
Jabar Yawar, secretary general at the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, warned in April that the ISIS resurgence has been underway for some time. “According to our data, the group increased its activities in 2018 and 2019, especially in Kurdistani areas outside of the Kurdistan Region administration, including Diyala, Hamrin, Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu, and Qarachogh. In Qarachogh, they even established bases,” Yawar told Rudaw.
There were more than 400 ISIS-claimed or suspected attacks in Iraq between April and June according to a recent Pentagon Inspector General report, up from the 250 attacks recorded in the first three months of 2020.
Most frequently hit was the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, where the Pentagon reported 150 of the quarter's attacks had taken place. Other attacks were reported in the provinces of Kirkuk, Anbar, Nineveh, and Salahaddin.
