LIHEBAN, Iraq - The quiet farming village of Liheban sits at the foot of Mount Qarachogh, in northern Kirkuk province. It and six other villages in this area are located within territories claimed by both the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). There is a gap between the forces of the two governments, leaving villagers to fend for themselves against militants of the Islamic State group (ISIS) who take advantage of the security vacuum. A few days ago, four gunmen claiming to be ISIS visited Liheban. “They entered the house and immediately took the phone. I was very ill at the time,” recalled villager Haji Mohammed Hassan. “They tried hard to convince me to go with them, but I said, ‘I can't go with you. I feel drained.’ I had a fever and chills.” One of the men spoke Kurdish and the other three were Arabs. “ISIS gunmen have attacked us,” said farmer Asaad Fayaq. “They have infiltrated the village. They have been patrolling the village and entering some homes.” In the first 10 months of this year, ISIS has carried out 206 attacks, most of them in the disputed areas, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga Jabar Yawar told Rudaw last week. In the disputed areas, ISIS has conducted at least 2,412 attacks since 2018. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017, but remains a serious threat. Last week, the militants killed two Peshmerga in Pirde (Altun Kupri), Kirkuk. And the group claimed responsibility for killing 15 villagers in Diyala province last month. At a Peshmerga base within an area of Kurdish control, a commander said they don’t have coordination with Iraqi forces to protect the villages. “The Iraqi army is present in this area but no Peshmerga forces are there. The villages under Iraqi army control have been evacuated. We have no coordination with them,” said Major Muzafar Fetah. Patrolling the troubled disputed areas is a “chief concern” of the US-led coalition against ISIS, according to a recent Pentagon report. Baghdad and Erbil are working to increase their collaboration. Joint coordination centres were set up in the disputed regions early this summer, though both sides recognize these are “not functioning optimally due to a lack of clarity of the roles and responsibilities of the officers assigned to them,” the Pentagon stated. Talks for joint Iraqi-Peshmerga brigades have stalled. At the foot of Mount Qarachogh, many families are choosing to leave. Just four families remain in the village of Sleiman Pakhshan that was once home to 40 households. During the night, those who have stayed behind keep close watch over their houses. And in the day, farmers take their guns with them into the fields, just in case they need to defend themselves. “If the situation continues like that, it will be inevitable that it [the village] will be completely evacuated. Why? If your life is in danger, would you live here?” said villager Sharif Majeed. Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
