"There are no armed organizations inside Sinjar under any name, and we will never allow it to be," Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji claimed in an interview with Rudaw's Sangar Abdulrahman on Wednesday, describing claims otherwise as just rumours.
The withdrawal of armed groups is a central tenet of a deal struck in October between the Iraq’s federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which seeks to settle the district’s fraught security by establishing a new armed force recruited from the local population.
Haidar Shasho, commander of the Ezidkhan Protection Force in Shingal incorporated into the Peshmerga forces, told Rudaw English earlier in January that several different armed groups remain in Shingal.
“There are still Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi) units and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) affiliated groups inside Shingal, even though they were supposed to leave,” Shasho said on January 18.
The Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) in late November reportedly said it would withdraw its forces from the district and relocate to Mount Sinjar after meetings with Iraqi forces, however, it is unclear the extent to which the group has withdrawn.
Khafaji has in the past asserted that even the state-sponsored PMF would be leaving Shingal to make way for the local force.
Commenting on anti-terrorism efforts, Khafaji maintains that the US-led Coalition is currently “essential” in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) group.
"The international coalition is still working effectively with the Iraqi army and its presence is based on legal agreements," Khafaji said, noting that the Coalition has huge military capabilities that can target ISIS locations with precision and ease.
"Iraq cannot expel the foreign forces as the coalition forces are committed to the timetable for withdrawal, which will take place in accordance with the legal contexts with no pressure," the spokesperson added.
ISIS took control of large parts of Iraq in 2014. Although the Iraqi government announced the territorial defeat of ISIS in December 2017, remnants of the group have returned to earlier insurgency tactics, ambushing security forces, kidnapping and executing suspected informants, and extorting money from vulnerable rural populations.
The Iraqi capital was shook by a double suicide bombing on January 21, which saw the deaths of more than 30 people. Just three days later at least 11 PMF fighters were killed in an ISIS ambush in Tikrit province.
"There are some areas where ISIS is active, especially on borders between Iraq and Syria, which still have many gaps," Khafaji said.
Iraq received 36 smart towers with advanced surveillance cameras to monitor and detect Islamic State (ISIS) sleeper cells, from the international coalition, each worth of $1.8 million, he added.
