ANALYSIS
“The flare-up presents an awkward dilemma for the United States, which has trained and equipped the advancing Iraqi troops, which include elite counterterrorism forces, and the Kurdish peshmerga on the other side,” Loveday Morris and Mustafa Salim write for the Washington Post.
“The [Kurdistan Regional Government] has for years made its claim to Kirkuk clear in words and actions. U.S. oil companies, including ExxonMobil, have given stature to such claims by signing oil exploration deals with the KRG for oil fields in disputed territories,” writes CFR’s Amy Myers Jaffe.
“Arab communities have felt strongly about [Kirkuk], believing the lands should remain the home to Christian, Yazidi, Shabak, and Turkmen communities displaced by the Islamic State,” Suadad al-Salhy writes for Middle East Eye.
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