US-backed fighters push ahead in their offensive in east Syria against tribespeople
BY HOGIR AL ABDO
September 2, 2023
QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — U.S.-backed fighters brought in reinforcements into eastern Syria and pushed ahead in their offensive Saturday against local tribespeople, saying that hundreds of pro-government gunmen have joined the worst battles in the region in years.
The clashes that broke out Monday after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces detained a former ally who headed an Arab-led faction in the region have left more than 50 people dead and dozens wounded.
The clashes are the most intense in areas where hundreds of U.S. troops have been deployed since 2015 to help in the fight against the Islamic State group. The extremists once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq until their defeat in March 2019.
The U.S. military on Thursday called for an end to days of fighting warning it may help the resurgence of the Islamic State group.
On Saturday, the SDF and local tribesman clashed in an area between the village of Dhiban and al-Omar oil field, Syria’s largest oil facility and home to one of the largest U.S. bases in the war-torn country, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights, an opposition war monitor.
Khaled Zeino, an SDF commander, told The Associated Press that his forces were moving ahead to reach the villages of Shheil and Baseera to cut the flow of supplies from the west bank of the Euphrates River, where government forces and Iran-backed militias are based.
Zeino added that some 400 fully equipped fighters had crossed from the government side. He said small boats were being used to take wounded gunmen for treatment on the west bank, where government troops are deployed.
On Friday evening, the SDF declared a 48-hour curfew on the east bank of the Euphrates.
The Observatory said six days of fighting have left at least 54 people dead and dozens others wounded.
On any day, there are at least 900 U.S. forces in eastern Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors. They partner with the SDF to work to prevent an IS comeback.
____
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
Khaled Zeino, an SDF commander, told The Associated Press that his forces were moving ahead to reach the villages of Shheil and Baseera to cut the flow of supplies from the west bank of the Euphrates River, where government forces and Iran-backed militias are based.
Zeino added that some 400 fully equipped fighters had crossed from the government side. He said small boats were being used to take wounded gunmen for treatment on the west bank, where government troops are deployed.
On Friday evening, the SDF declared a 48-hour curfew on the east bank of the Euphrates.
The Observatory said six days of fighting have left at least 54 people dead and dozens others wounded.
On any day, there are at least 900 U.S. forces in eastern Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors. They partner with the SDF to work to prevent an IS comeback.
____
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
Clashes in Iraq’s Kirkuk over handover of police HQ to Kurds leave 1 dead, several injured
This is a locator map for Iraq with its capital, Baghdad. (AP Photo)Photos
BY ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD AND QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
September 2, 2023
BAGHDAD (AP) — Demonstrations in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk over the handover of a key facility from federal to local Kurdish authorities turned violent Saturday, and one protester was killed and several were injured, witnesses and local officials said.
Clashes broke out around the planned handover of the Iraqi federal police headquarters to the Kurdish Democratic Party in the city, which is home to a mixed population of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen.
Federal forces seized Kirkuk and the surrounding oil fields in October 2017 after Kurdish regional authorities organized a symbolic but controversial referendum for Kurdish independence. The KDP vacated its headquarters in the city at the time.
The agreement to form the current government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, included a provision for the return of the Kurdistan Democratic Party to the province.
Turkish airstrike in northern Iraq kills 4 Kurdish insurgents as Ankara’s top diplomat visits region
Clashes between US-allied Arab and Kurdish fighters in east Syria kill 3 and raise tensions
Last week, a group of Arabs from Kirkuk closed the Kirkuk-to-Erbil highway in protest over the re-opening of the KDP headquarter in Kirkuk. On Saturday, Kurdish residents demanded the reopening of the highway, sparking tensions between the protesters and security forces.
Al-Sudani issued a directive instructing security forces to impose a curfew in Kirkuk as clashes erupted Saturday between KDP supporters, Arab and Turkmen protesters and security forces.
In a statement, Masoud Barzani, the former president of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, decried the violence directed against Kurdish protesters and expressed disappointment with security forces.
“It’s surprising that in the past few days security forces in Kirkuk did not prevent the violence and illegal behavior of some groups but today the Kurdish protesters were faced with violence and (the) blood of Kurdish youth was spilled, and it will carry a heavy price,” the statement said.
In the Kurdish neighborhood of Rahimawa in Kirkuk, protesters blocked roads by setting tires ablaze. Iraqi security forces were deployed to the area to maintain order.
Abdallah Mafarji, a former Sunni Arab member of parliament from Kirkuk, speaking to The Associated Press, expressed concern about the rapidly evolving situation. He criticized al-Sudani’s “insistence” on turning the headquarters over to the KDP “as part of a political agreement that preceded the formation of his government” despite the sensitivities around the matter.
Hasan Turan, the leader of the Turkmen Front movement, requested that al-Sudani visit Kirkuk due to the prevailing security tensions.
Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid called for “constructive dialogue” in a statement.
“Kirkuk was and still is a symbol of Iraqi brotherhood and a gathering of all sects, and we will not allow its image to be distorted,” he said.
Al-Sudani ordered the formation of an investigative committee to look into the circumstances of the death of one protester and the injury of others, and said that people found culpable will be “brought to justice.”
Tehran and Baghdad reach a deal to disarm and relocate Iranian dissident groups based in north Iraq
BY QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
August 28, 2023
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement to disarm members of Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in northern Iraq and relocate their members from their current bases, officials from the two countries said Monday.
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said in a news briefing Monday that the Iraqi government had agreed “to disarm the armed terrorist groups stationed in Iraq’s territory by September 19, and then, evacuate and transfer them from their military bases to camps designated by the Iraqi government.”
He added that the deadline would not be extended and that while relations between the two countries are “entirely friendly and warm ... the presence of terrorists in the northern region of Iraq is an unpleasant stain on mutual ties.”
Iran has periodically launched strikes targeting members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iran, or KDPI, and other Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region near the border with Iran.
An Iraqi government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed the agreement was signed between the two countries and said the central government in Baghdad is “working as quickly as possible” to relocate the groups with the approval of authorities from the Kurdish regional government in Irbil and Sulaimaniyah.
He declined to give the exact location to which the disarmed militants would be moved, but said it will be within the Iraqi Kurdish region. He said they “will have a camp to live in and will be without arms.”
Different Iranian dissident groups in Iraq are aligned with each of the two main Iraqi Kurdish parties - the Kurdistan Democractic Party, with its seat of power in Irbil, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, whose stronghold is in Suleimaniyah - and are at odds with each other as well as with Iran.
“Previously Sulaimaniyah would accuse Irbil of working with these groups, and Erbil would accuse Sulaimaniyah of working with them, but as a central government we agreed to relocate them,” the Iraqi official said. “We are trying as hard as possible for this to take place on Sept. 19.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani came to power last year via a coalition of Iranian-backed parties and is seen as close to Iran, although he has also attempted to build ties with the United States and Turkey.
A spokesman for Sudani, Hisham al-Rikabi, said in a statement that the prime minister “has spoken on more than one occasion about the government’s refusal for the Iraqi land to be ... a launching pad for targeting neighboring countries.”
In addition to disarming the militant groups and removing their bases, he said, the agreement with Iran promises that Iraq will deploy border guards to prevent the “infiltration of militants” across the border and will hand over wanted suspects to Iran “after the issuance of arrest warrants in accordance with the law.”
___
Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Salar Salim in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.
This is a locator map for Iraq with its capital, Baghdad. (AP Photo)Photos
BY ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD AND QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
September 2, 2023
BAGHDAD (AP) — Demonstrations in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk over the handover of a key facility from federal to local Kurdish authorities turned violent Saturday, and one protester was killed and several were injured, witnesses and local officials said.
Clashes broke out around the planned handover of the Iraqi federal police headquarters to the Kurdish Democratic Party in the city, which is home to a mixed population of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen.
Federal forces seized Kirkuk and the surrounding oil fields in October 2017 after Kurdish regional authorities organized a symbolic but controversial referendum for Kurdish independence. The KDP vacated its headquarters in the city at the time.
The agreement to form the current government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, included a provision for the return of the Kurdistan Democratic Party to the province.
Turkish airstrike in northern Iraq kills 4 Kurdish insurgents as Ankara’s top diplomat visits region
Clashes between US-allied Arab and Kurdish fighters in east Syria kill 3 and raise tensions
Last week, a group of Arabs from Kirkuk closed the Kirkuk-to-Erbil highway in protest over the re-opening of the KDP headquarter in Kirkuk. On Saturday, Kurdish residents demanded the reopening of the highway, sparking tensions between the protesters and security forces.
Al-Sudani issued a directive instructing security forces to impose a curfew in Kirkuk as clashes erupted Saturday between KDP supporters, Arab and Turkmen protesters and security forces.
In a statement, Masoud Barzani, the former president of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, decried the violence directed against Kurdish protesters and expressed disappointment with security forces.
“It’s surprising that in the past few days security forces in Kirkuk did not prevent the violence and illegal behavior of some groups but today the Kurdish protesters were faced with violence and (the) blood of Kurdish youth was spilled, and it will carry a heavy price,” the statement said.
In the Kurdish neighborhood of Rahimawa in Kirkuk, protesters blocked roads by setting tires ablaze. Iraqi security forces were deployed to the area to maintain order.
Abdallah Mafarji, a former Sunni Arab member of parliament from Kirkuk, speaking to The Associated Press, expressed concern about the rapidly evolving situation. He criticized al-Sudani’s “insistence” on turning the headquarters over to the KDP “as part of a political agreement that preceded the formation of his government” despite the sensitivities around the matter.
Hasan Turan, the leader of the Turkmen Front movement, requested that al-Sudani visit Kirkuk due to the prevailing security tensions.
Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid called for “constructive dialogue” in a statement.
“Kirkuk was and still is a symbol of Iraqi brotherhood and a gathering of all sects, and we will not allow its image to be distorted,” he said.
Al-Sudani ordered the formation of an investigative committee to look into the circumstances of the death of one protester and the injury of others, and said that people found culpable will be “brought to justice.”
Tehran and Baghdad reach a deal to disarm and relocate Iranian dissident groups based in north Iraq
BY QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
August 28, 2023
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement to disarm members of Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in northern Iraq and relocate their members from their current bases, officials from the two countries said Monday.
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said in a news briefing Monday that the Iraqi government had agreed “to disarm the armed terrorist groups stationed in Iraq’s territory by September 19, and then, evacuate and transfer them from their military bases to camps designated by the Iraqi government.”
He added that the deadline would not be extended and that while relations between the two countries are “entirely friendly and warm ... the presence of terrorists in the northern region of Iraq is an unpleasant stain on mutual ties.”
Iran has periodically launched strikes targeting members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iran, or KDPI, and other Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region near the border with Iran.
An Iraqi government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed the agreement was signed between the two countries and said the central government in Baghdad is “working as quickly as possible” to relocate the groups with the approval of authorities from the Kurdish regional government in Irbil and Sulaimaniyah.
He declined to give the exact location to which the disarmed militants would be moved, but said it will be within the Iraqi Kurdish region. He said they “will have a camp to live in and will be without arms.”
Different Iranian dissident groups in Iraq are aligned with each of the two main Iraqi Kurdish parties - the Kurdistan Democractic Party, with its seat of power in Irbil, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, whose stronghold is in Suleimaniyah - and are at odds with each other as well as with Iran.
“Previously Sulaimaniyah would accuse Irbil of working with these groups, and Erbil would accuse Sulaimaniyah of working with them, but as a central government we agreed to relocate them,” the Iraqi official said. “We are trying as hard as possible for this to take place on Sept. 19.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani came to power last year via a coalition of Iranian-backed parties and is seen as close to Iran, although he has also attempted to build ties with the United States and Turkey.
A spokesman for Sudani, Hisham al-Rikabi, said in a statement that the prime minister “has spoken on more than one occasion about the government’s refusal for the Iraqi land to be ... a launching pad for targeting neighboring countries.”
In addition to disarming the militant groups and removing their bases, he said, the agreement with Iran promises that Iraq will deploy border guards to prevent the “infiltration of militants” across the border and will hand over wanted suspects to Iran “after the issuance of arrest warrants in accordance with the law.”
___
Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Salar Salim in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.
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