MESOPOTAMA NEWS SOUTH KURDISTAN / IRAQ : A weekly brief of events and news occurred in the disputed territories.  6 June 2021

Kirkuk 

  • Due to the threat of ISIS (Da’esh) attacks in Kirkuk, all security forces in the province were on the highest emergency alert (C type) on Saturday. The security forces of police and army deployed thousands of troops with heavy weapons in Kirkuk city and the surrounding towns, blocking several roads leading to key government buildings. A leaked memo of police’s intelligence department warned of Da’esh attacks on government buildings, including Kirkuk’s governorate, the oil company, police headquarters, department of education, and the main jail. Further, on Tuesday June 1, security forces launched search and inspection in five neighborhoods and two main markets in Kirkuk’s downtown, hunting for Da’esh suspects. During the searching campaign, the security forces shut down both Khan Khurma and Hawija Terminal Market downtown for at least five hours, informing shop owners to close down for the day. 37 Da’esh suspects were arrested in 9 different raids across the province last week.
  • Last week, Da’esh sleeper cells in the city of Kirkuk wrote the terror group’s slogan on the walls of three schools. The terror propaganda of “The Islamic State Exists” was written on walls of schools in Imam Qasim, Ronaki, and Shahidan neighborhoods. In the previous weeks, similar incidents were recorded on public buildings across the city.
  • Kirkuk’s security forces found several 122mm rockets prepped for launch between Kirkuk Governorate’s Hasar and Darman villages. ISIS (Da’esh) and Iranian-backed militias remain the likely suspects regarding the attempted attack, as both have carried out an increasing number of attacks on Kurds and Peshmerga positions in Iraq’s “Disputed Territories,” which have been occupied by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed militias since October 16, 2017.
  • Due to the continued lack of basic services to Kirkuk citizens, administration, two local activists launched “time to leave” against the acting governor of Kirkuk Rakan Saed, the mayor of the city Falah Yaychi, and head of the municipality Faraidon Adel Waiss. Four anti-government protests were held last week as lack of electricity, water, and waste pickup has replaced the province as one of the worst places to live in the country. The social media campaign went viral among thousands of people sharing the campaign banner and calling the three top officials in the province to resign. Though launched by Kurds, many non-Kurds joined the campaign. Moreover, the Turkish-backed lawmaker and former head of the Turkmen Front, Arshad Salihi, warned of “An explosion of public anger and the outbreak of massive demonstrations” due to evident deterioration of services.
  • A team of the “stabilization” program by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) visited Kirkuk and held meetings with its officials. On Wednesday, the stabilization team, which includes representatives of donor countries and international organizations, held a meeting in Baghdad with Iraq’s Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers Hamim al Gazi over Kirkuk’s stabilization efforts and the returns of the internally displaced people (IDP).
  •  According to Iraq’s oil minister’s monthly report, 3,060,913 barrels of oil were exported, grossing more than $199 million. The selling price per barrel averaged $65 produced from the five oil fields in 199 million. Kirkuk of Bai Hasan, Avana, Qubay Baba Jambour, and Khabaza.
  • As pre-election fever slowly weighs in, disagreements among the three main Arab tribes of Kirkuk appear stronger. The Obaidi and Hamadan tribes are at odds with the Jabouri tribe over the number of candidates they have in the Arab coalition list. The two tribes accuse the Jabouris of having more of a role in the political scene. Iraq’s parliamentary election is set to be held on October 10, 2021.

Tuz Khurmatu

  • At least eight Da’esh terrorists were killed and several of their hideouts were destroyed by a joint operation between Peshmerga and french forces, part of the US-led coalition near Zanadana (Zanana). The operation was backed by US airpower and lasted hours.

Makhmour

Shingal

  • The head of the Snooni sub-district, Khadida Jouqi, said the Yazidi women inside al Hawl camp in Syria face another wave of kidnappings by al Qaeda affiliates Ahrar al-Sham in Idlib, west of the country. According to Jouqi, some Yazidi women enslaved by Da’esh and ended up inside al Hawl camp are now smuggled out to Idlib by al Qaeda and Ahrar al-Sham. Al Hawl camp houses more than 62,000 refugees and internally displaced people and thousands of Da’esh members and relatives.

 MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : ERDOGAN’S INVASION INTO KURDSH SOUTH IRAQ  – No Return: The Civilian Impact of Turkey’s Operation Claw-Lightning

Report by CPT-IK, June 2021 –  Summary

This report documents the impact of the Turkish Armed Forces’ (TAF) Operation Claw-Lightning on the civilian population living in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Operation Claw-Lightning is a cross-border military operation that Turkey began on April 23, 2021. Turkey claims that the operation targets the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to eliminate terrorism in the Kurdistan Region. To launch its operation, Turkey has deployed paratroopers across the Turkey-Iraq border to construct military bases in the Kurdistan Region with the accompaniment of aerial and artillery bombardments. As Turkey has constructed these bases, it has further advanced into the Kurdistan Region to establish what Turkey claims is a security zone, spanning along the Turkey-Iraq border. While Turkey has gained control over Kurdistan Region territory, clashes between the Turkish military and the PKK have intensified in the region. Turkey has then conducted bombardments in the region targeting the PKK; though, as Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) reports, many of Turkey’s aerial and artillery strikes have directly targeted civilians.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS REPORT: ERDOGAN’S INVASION CONTRA KURDISH PKK INTO IRAQ

Metîna-Kommandantur warnt vor innerkurdischem Konflikt

ANF News  6. Jun 2021

„Dies würde allen Kurdinnen und Kurden und der nationalen Sache Kurdistans großen Schaden zufügen. Wir wollen nicht, dass es wieder zu einem …

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Drohnenangriff: Türkei konkretisiert Drohung gegen Mexmûr

ANF News

Der Nationalkongress Kurdistan (KNK) zeigt sich äußerst besorgt … würden, sorgen innerhalb der kurdischen Gesellschaft für Beunruhigung .

 

 

Südkurdistan: 1500 Menschen durch türkische Invasion vertrieben

  1. Juni 2021

Die Christian Peacemaker Teams-Iraqi Kurdistan (CPT-IK) haben einen Bericht über die zivilen Auswirkungen der aktuellen türkischen Militäroperation in Südkurdistan vorgestellt. Demnach sind während der letzten vierzig Tage mehr als 1500 Menschen aus 22 Dörfern im Gouvernement Dihok vertrieben worden. Tausende Hektar landwirtschaftlicher Nutzfläche sind verbrannt. Wie Lukasz Firla, ein Mitglied der internationalen Menschenrechtsorganisation, bei der Vorstellung des Berichts „Keine Rückkehr: Die zivilen Auswirkungen der türkischen Operation Klauenblitz“ am Donnerstag mitteilte, sind bisher vier Menschen aus der Zivilbevölkerung verletzt worden.

Zu der am 23. April eingeleiteten grenzüberschreitenden Militäroperation des türkischen Staates auf irakischem Staatsgebiet erklärt CPT-IK: „Die Türkei behauptet, dass sich die Operation gegen die Arbeiterpartei Kurdistans (PKK) richtet, um den Terrorismus in der Region Kurdistan zu beseitigen. Um ihre Operation zu starten, hat die Türkei Fallschirmjäger über die türkisch-irakische Grenze entsandt, um Militärbasen in der Region Kurdistan zu errichten, begleitet von Luft- und Artilleriebeschuss. Während die Türkei diese Stützpunkte errichtet hat, ist sie weiter in die Region Kurdistan vorgedrungen, um nach eigenen Angaben eine Sicherheitszone zu errichten, die sich entlang der türkisch-irakischen Grenze erstreckt.“

Dabei sei es zu massiven Zusammenstößen zwischen dem türkischen Militär und der PKK in der Region gekommen. Viele der türkischen Luft- und Artillerieangriffe hätten direkt Zivilist:innen getroffen, so die CPT-IK. „Während die Türkei behauptet, mit der Operation Klauenblitz die PKK ins Visier zu nehmen, sind in Wirklichkeit die in den Grenzregionen lebenden Zivilisten am stärksten von den türkischen Bombardierungen betroffen. Diese Bombardierungen haben eine Region verwüstet, in der Hunderte von Familien leben. Tausende von Dunam Land und etwa 1.300 Bienenstöcke wurden zerstört, allesamt wichtige Ressourcen für die Familien. Die Bombardierungen der Türkei bedrohen nicht nur die Lebensgrundlage der Familien, sondern auch ihr Leben. Vier Zivilisten wurden bisher durch die türkischen Bombardierungen verletzt, und mehr als 1.500 Zivilisten aus 22 Dörfern haben ihre Dörfer evakuiert, um den türkischen Angriffen zu entkommen. CPT befürchtet, dass diese Familien möglicherweise nie wieder in ihre Häuser zurückkehren können, da die Türkei in der Nähe Militärbasen errichtet hat, die mit Artillerie bewaffnet sind und nun das Leben der Zivilisten bedrohen.“

Die Organisation fordert die Einstellung der Militäroperation, die auf die Zivilbevölkerung in der Autonomieregion abzielt: „Nur dann werden die Familien in ihre Heimat zurückkehren können.“

 

MESOPOTAMIA NEWS Iraqi Protestors: On the Iraqi State and the Arrest of Muslih

by Azhar Al-Rubaie Jun 2, 2021 – Azhar Al-Rubaie FIKRA FORUM – Azhar Al-Rubaie is a freelance journalist based in Iraq. His writing focuses on an variety of issues, including politics, health, society, wars, and human rights. Al-Rubaie is a contributor to Fikra Forum.

Brief Analysis

Protestors in Iraq are using the “Who Killed Me” hashtag to call out militia influence in the Iraqi government and demand greater protection for demonstrators.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS JEWS & IRAQ: Can the Farhud, a Slaughter of Jews by Their Longtime Arab Neighbors, Happen Again?

By Edwin BlackJune 4, 2021

Arab mob hunting Iraqi Jews during the Farhud, June 1941, image from the Otniel Margalit collection, photo archive, Yad Ben Zvi, via Museum of the Jewish People

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 2,064, June 4, 2021 – ISRAEL – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The world just marked the 80th anniversary of the Farhud, the Arab-Nazi pogrom against the Jews of Baghdad and Basra that occurred on June 1-2, 1941. The term Arab–Nazi is entirely appropriate, not simply because these Arabs were fascist in mind and deed, but because they explicitly identified with Germany’s Nazi Party. Some of the rioters wore swastikas; more than a few marched in the Nuremberg torchlight parades. The Nazi ideology that motivated the Arab slaughterers of Jews in 1941—the desire to exterminate Jews from the face of the earth—motivates the Arabs and Muslims who assault Israelis and Jews today.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : ERDOGAN ZERSTÖRT EUPHRAT & TIGRIS WÄLDER

Irakischer Präsident verurteilt die Zerstörung von Wäldern durch die Türkei – MESOP REPORT 4 Juni 2021

Der irakische Präsident Barham Salih hat das Abholzen von Wäldern durch eine Firma im Auftrag des türkischen Militärs hart kritisiert. „Das Eindringen in das souveräne Gebiet des Irak, die Gewalt und die Vertreibung von Zivilisten aus ihren Häusern, das Abholzen von Wäldern in Hirore, Batifa und in anderen Grenzregionen in der Region Kurdistan, sind inhumane Praktiken und Umweltverbrechen, die man nicht einfach ignorieren sollte“ schrieb Barham Salih auf Twitter. Barham Salih stammt selbst aus Irakisch Kurdistan.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : Erdogan threatens to strike PKK controlled refugee camp inside Iraq

The rhetoric against Makhmour, a settlement where residents are overwhelmingly sympathetic to the Kurdistan Workers Party, could be part of a strategy to divert attention away from economic problems at home.

Amberin Zaman  AL MONITOR – June 2, 2021 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to strike a refugee settlement in Iraqi Kurdistan on the grounds that it is a breeding ground for rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).In a live interview on the state-run TRT news channel, Erdogan said that if the United Nations did not “clean it up, we will do it as a UN member.”

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : KRG Protests Deforestation of Kurdistan Border Areas by Turkey

BasNews 2021/06/01 – 00:01 Kurdistan  ERBIL – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has expressed strong concerns over the deforestation of Kurdistan Region border areas by Turkey.

Jotiar Adil, a spokesperson for the KRG, said in a statement: “The KRG has officially delivered its concern and urged the Turkish government to put an end to the deforestation in the border areas, which is not acceptable.”

Meanwhile, Adil also asserted that the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region’s border areas has given the Turkish army an excuse to cross the borders of the autonomous region.He called on the two sides to respect the sovereignty of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS Irak: Anführer einer schiitischen Miliz wegen Terrorismus verhaftet / Tension simmers in Baghdad as prominent PMF leader arrested

Qassem Mahmoud Karim Musleh im Kreis seiner Milizionäre – Der Anführer eine pro-iranischen Miliz der Volksmobilisierungskräfte wurde im Zusammenhang mit dem Tod eines irakischen Menschenrechtsaktivisten verhaftet.

Sura Ali, Rudaw 30 May 2021

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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS REPORT : UN Iraq mission documents lack of accountability for protesters’ killings

Halgurd Sherwani  31 ay 2021 – Iraqi security forces carry a colleague injured during clashes with protestors at Tahrir Square in Baghdad during a demonstration to demand accountability, May 25, 2021 ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The lack of government transparency and ongoing impunity enjoyed by armed militias in Iraq believed to be behind killings of protesters have fueled the ongoing assassinations and abductions, the newest report from the United Nations mission in Iraq suggests.

In its latest human rights report published on Sunday, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) details investigative procedures the Iraqi government has undertaken to hold accountable perpetrators of crimes against the protesters who took the streets in October 2019 over the state’s structural corruption and weakness to resist foreign influence.

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