Iraq
Qassim Shasho, commander of Peshmerga forces in Shingall, speaking to Rudaw on October 17, 2023. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish authorities to deploy more Peshmerga fighters to the Yazidi heartland of Shingal, said a Peshmerga commander on Tuesday, adding that they will also be equipped with more weapons.
Qassim Shasho, commander of Peshmerga forces in Shingal district, told Rudaw’s Nasir Ali on Tuesday that they met with Masoud Barzani, President of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), in Erbil the previous day.
“We asked for our Peshmerga command in Shingal to be formalised,” he said, adding that Barzani asked his advisors to “write down these things and try to make it a formal force, and increase their number to 3,000 Peshmerga.”
He stated that they currently have 2,000 Peshmerga fighters in Shingal.
The members of his command will receive a $300 monthly allowance from the Kurdish government until Erbil and Baghdad reach an agreement about the Kurdistan Region’s federal share. Shasho said they will receive more weapons as well.
There is a myriad of armed forces in Shingal with various allegiances, including the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga, pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), and groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They gained footholds in Shingal after ousting the Islamic State (ISIS)
Erbil and Baghdad in 2020 signed an agreement over the governance and security of Shingal in order to “normalize” and resolve a number of issues that have prevented the return of the area’s inhabitants who fled ISIS war.
The agreement includes the withdrawal of all armed groups from the city.
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