LHEIBAN: As a backhoe dug the ground to make a trench, Iraqi soldiers scan vast agricultural paths for militants; Not far away, their Kurdish counterparts did the same.
Earlier this month the small northern Iraqi farming village of Leiban was a rare example of coordination between the federal government and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region. The two sides were consolidating a joint position aimed at defending the village against attacks from the Islamic State group.
Despite a long-standing territorial dispute, the Kurds in Baghdad and Iraq are taking steps to work together to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group.
Whether or not Iraq’s war with IS can lead to a fragile security partnership is a major test in the next chapter. Both sides say they need Americans to help hold it together – and they say this is one reason why the US military presence in Iraq is not decreasing, even as its The combat mission officially ends on December 31.
Iraq declared IS defeated four years ago this month. But the rivalry between Baghdad and the Kurds opened the cracks through which IS retreated: a long, disputed area through the four provinces of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salaheddin and Diyala, where forces from both sides did not enter. In some places the area was up to 40 kilometers (24 mi) wide.
Leiban is located in a part of the region, and a recent flurry of IS attacks threatened to evacuate the area to its residents, mostly Kurds. So for the first time since 2014, Iraqi troops and the Peshmerga are setting up joint coordination centers around the region to better police the deficiencies.
“Daesh took advantage,” said Captain Naqib Hajar, the head of Kurdish Peshmerga operations in the area, using the Arabic word for IS. Now, he said, “We are coordinating. It starts from here, in this village.”
night Visions
Like all residents of Leiban, Helmet Zahir is tired. In the previous months, the cement factory worker had been sleeping all night on the terrace of his simple house, inside his wife and children, holding his rifle and waiting.
Security personnel guarding a nearby oil company equipped with thermal night vision will send signals to the area only when they see IS militants marching down the Karachok mountain range towards Leiban.
It was up to Zahir and the other armed residents to stop them.
“We were released. The peshmerga was on one side, the Iraqi army on the other, and neither was interfering,” he said.
A recent surge in attacks on the village, with three in the first week of December, has prompted many residents of the village, who are mainly Kurdish, to leave. Zahir moved his family to Debaga in the relative safety of the Kurdish-run north.
Village Mukhtar Yadgar Karim said that once there were 65 families, there are now only 12 left in Leiban.
On 7 December, Peshmerga and Iraqi forces moved into the village with plans to repeat coordination elsewhere in the disputed areas. Kurdish officials hoped this would prompt villagers to return. Maintaining the Kurdish population in the region is key to their territorial claims.
Zaheer can’t believe it. “I had only come to check on the situation, I am too scared to return,” he said.
There are places all along the ridge of the Karachok mountains in Peshmerga. But they do not have orders to stop IS militants as they scale up attacks or raid IS positions because of warnings of entering disputed territory, Colonel Kahar Johar explained.
In addition, terrorists move at night, using tunnels and hiding in caves, and the peshmerga lack critical equipment, including night vision.
“That’s why IS is able to terrorize residents, because we can’t see them,” Jawahar said.
disputed land
Talks to re-establish joint coordination centers between the Iraqi military and the Peshmerga began two years ago, but broke down due to deep mistrust and differences over how to draw lines of control.
under the current prime minister Mustafa Al-KadhimiNegotiations resumed, paving the way for an agreement to set up six joint coordination centers in Baghdad, Erbil and the disputed region.
Kadimi also agreed to establish two joint brigades to conduct anti-IS operations. But it is awaiting budget approval from Baghdad’s finance ministry, Hazari said. Ismail, head of relations with the Peshmerga coalition.
Between 2009–2014, Iraqi and Kurdish forces conducted joint security operations in the northern provinces of Ninwa, Kirkuk and Diyala. But the collapse of the Iraqi army during the 2014 IS attack put an end to the system.
The Kurdish authorities managed to consolidate control over Kirkuk and other disputed areas during this time, even to the will of the federal government, to develop oil fields and conduct an independent export policy. .
After Iraq declared victory over IS in 2017, Baghdad turned its eyes to these areas, launching a military operation to retake them in October 2017. Relations soured, with Baghdad cutting budget allocations for the Kurdish sector, leaving it unable to pay debts to public sector workers and oil companies.
According to federal officials, Baghdad was reluctant to resume security talks partly because of the political optics in the capital, with several major Shiite parties having deep distrust of Kurdish intentions.
popular mobilization forceShia militia groups close to Iran have opposed joint patrols with the Peshmerga. PMF It also has a strong presence in many areas of the disputed area.
So far, the PMF has been surprisingly silent about the new joint arrangement, as it faces devastating losses in federal elections earlier this year.
But “at some point they will speak out against it,” said Zamkan Ali, a senior researcher at the Institute for Regional and International Studies, a research center in Sulaymaniyah.
common friends
The road to better coordination often involves a common friend: the US
Iraqi and Kurdish officials said the mediation and support of the US-led coalition were key in bringing the parties to the table.
“He played an important role in coordinating with us and the Iraqi side,” said Karachok-based Peshmerga Jawahar. “Without them we wouldn’t speak – they wouldn’t come here, and we wouldn’t go there.”
Both sides say they still need Americans to play that role.
US troops quietly stopped being directly involved in the fight against IS months ago and have been advising and training soldiers ever since. This role will continue until the combat mission formally ends on 31 December.
America’s presence is important in other ways as well. Amid ongoing budget disputes with Baghdad, Americans pay the salaries of many Peshmerga fighters. According to Ismail, approximately $240 million in US funding covers the wages of approximately 45,000 peshmerga workers.
“Thankfully, this will continue into 2022,” he said.
Earlier this month the small northern Iraqi farming village of Leiban was a rare example of coordination between the federal government and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region. The two sides were consolidating a joint position aimed at defending the village against attacks from the Islamic State group.
Despite a long-standing territorial dispute, the Kurds in Baghdad and Iraq are taking steps to work together to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group.
Whether or not Iraq’s war with IS can lead to a fragile security partnership is a major test in the next chapter. Both sides say they need Americans to help hold it together – and they say this is one reason why the US military presence in Iraq is not decreasing, even as its The combat mission officially ends on December 31.
Iraq declared IS defeated four years ago this month. But the rivalry between Baghdad and the Kurds opened the cracks through which IS retreated: a long, disputed area through the four provinces of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salaheddin and Diyala, where forces from both sides did not enter. In some places the area was up to 40 kilometers (24 mi) wide.
Leiban is located in a part of the region, and a recent flurry of IS attacks threatened to evacuate the area to its residents, mostly Kurds. So for the first time since 2014, Iraqi troops and the Peshmerga are setting up joint coordination centers around the region to better police the deficiencies.
“Daesh took advantage,” said Captain Naqib Hajar, the head of Kurdish Peshmerga operations in the area, using the Arabic word for IS. Now, he said, “We are coordinating. It starts from here, in this village.”
night Visions
Like all residents of Leiban, Helmet Zahir is tired. In the previous months, the cement factory worker had been sleeping all night on the terrace of his simple house, inside his wife and children, holding his rifle and waiting.
Security personnel guarding a nearby oil company equipped with thermal night vision will send signals to the area only when they see IS militants marching down the Karachok mountain range towards Leiban.
It was up to Zahir and the other armed residents to stop them.
“We were released. The peshmerga was on one side, the Iraqi army on the other, and neither was interfering,” he said.
A recent surge in attacks on the village, with three in the first week of December, has prompted many residents of the village, who are mainly Kurdish, to leave. Zahir moved his family to Debaga in the relative safety of the Kurdish-run north.
Village Mukhtar Yadgar Karim said that once there were 65 families, there are now only 12 left in Leiban.
On 7 December, Peshmerga and Iraqi forces moved into the village with plans to repeat coordination elsewhere in the disputed areas. Kurdish officials hoped this would prompt villagers to return. Maintaining the Kurdish population in the region is key to their territorial claims.
Zaheer can’t believe it. “I had only come to check on the situation, I am too scared to return,” he said.
There are places all along the ridge of the Karachok mountains in Peshmerga. But they do not have orders to stop IS militants as they scale up attacks or raid IS positions because of warnings of entering disputed territory, Colonel Kahar Johar explained.
In addition, terrorists move at night, using tunnels and hiding in caves, and the peshmerga lack critical equipment, including night vision.
“That’s why IS is able to terrorize residents, because we can’t see them,” Jawahar said.
disputed land
Talks to re-establish joint coordination centers between the Iraqi military and the Peshmerga began two years ago, but broke down due to deep mistrust and differences over how to draw lines of control.
under the current prime minister Mustafa Al-KadhimiNegotiations resumed, paving the way for an agreement to set up six joint coordination centers in Baghdad, Erbil and the disputed region.
Kadimi also agreed to establish two joint brigades to conduct anti-IS operations. But it is awaiting budget approval from Baghdad’s finance ministry, Hazari said. Ismail, head of relations with the Peshmerga coalition.
Between 2009–2014, Iraqi and Kurdish forces conducted joint security operations in the northern provinces of Ninwa, Kirkuk and Diyala. But the collapse of the Iraqi army during the 2014 IS attack put an end to the system.
The Kurdish authorities managed to consolidate control over Kirkuk and other disputed areas during this time, even to the will of the federal government, to develop oil fields and conduct an independent export policy. .
After Iraq declared victory over IS in 2017, Baghdad turned its eyes to these areas, launching a military operation to retake them in October 2017. Relations soured, with Baghdad cutting budget allocations for the Kurdish sector, leaving it unable to pay debts to public sector workers and oil companies.
According to federal officials, Baghdad was reluctant to resume security talks partly because of the political optics in the capital, with several major Shiite parties having deep distrust of Kurdish intentions.
popular mobilization forceShia militia groups close to Iran have opposed joint patrols with the Peshmerga. PMF It also has a strong presence in many areas of the disputed area.
So far, the PMF has been surprisingly silent about the new joint arrangement, as it faces devastating losses in federal elections earlier this year.
But “at some point they will speak out against it,” said Zamkan Ali, a senior researcher at the Institute for Regional and International Studies, a research center in Sulaymaniyah.
common friends
The road to better coordination often involves a common friend: the US
Iraqi and Kurdish officials said the mediation and support of the US-led coalition were key in bringing the parties to the table.
“He played an important role in coordinating with us and the Iraqi side,” said Karachok-based Peshmerga Jawahar. “Without them we wouldn’t speak – they wouldn’t come here, and we wouldn’t go there.”
Both sides say they still need Americans to play that role.
US troops quietly stopped being directly involved in the fight against IS months ago and have been advising and training soldiers ever since. This role will continue until the combat mission formally ends on 31 December.
America’s presence is important in other ways as well. Amid ongoing budget disputes with Baghdad, Americans pay the salaries of many Peshmerga fighters. According to Ismail, approximately $240 million in US funding covers the wages of approximately 45,000 peshmerga workers.
“Thankfully, this will continue into 2022,” he said.
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