Coalition official says militias should focus on ISIS rather than Kurdistan
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS SITU-REPORT KURDISTAN – IRAQ
Col. Williams underlined that the US-led coalition will work with Iraqi security force partners and Kurdish security partners to address “outlaw militia groups.” Col. David Williams, the Director of the Kurdistan Coordination Center (KCC), during an interview with Kurdistan 24.
- März 2021 – Erbil (Kurdistan 24) – US Army Col. David Williams, the Erbil-based Director of the Kurdistan Coordination Center, told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday that he doesn’t understand why ‘outlaw’ groups attack the Kurdistan Region rather than the Islamic State group.
The coordination center was established six years ago, as the fight against the so-called Islamic State began.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : SINJAR REPORT – IRAQ-KURDISTAN / TROUBLE WITH PKK !
Despite government promises, lives in Sinjar remain on hold – ‘They all just talk but don’t do anything.’
Lizzie Porter THE NEW HUMANITARIAN 31 March 2021 – Print and radio journalist based between Baghdad, Erbil, and Beirut. Senior correspondent at Iraq Oil Report, focused on politics, the economy, and security
Little has changed in the six months since a deal that was intended to bring stability and reconstruction to Sinjar – the long-disputed northern Iraq homeland of the Yazidis – was signed, residents say.
“This deal has had no real effect,” said Dilyar, a member of Sinjar’s police force, who asked that his surname not be published. He gestured up and down a street lined with collapsed buildings, the sun fading. “[One armed group] are in this direction, and the PKK [another armed group] in the other. At night there are no people here, and it’s pitch dark.”
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS KURDISTAN-IRAQ: Jesidischer KRG-Kommandant befürchtet Krieg mit PKK in Shingal
Laut einem Abkommen vom Oktober sollen alle Milizen abziehen und die Zentralregierung für die Sicherheit der Region Shingal sorgen, woran sich die PKK aber nicht hält. – Dilan Sirwan, Rudaw – 29 März 2021
Der Kommandeur einer jesidischen bewaffneten Truppe, die Teil der Peshmerga-Kräfte der Region Kurdistan ist, sagte am Freitag, er befürchte, dass im umstrittenen Bezirk Shingal ein Krieg ausbrechen könnte, da die Spannungen zwischen der irakischen Armee und den Milizen, die mit der Arbeiterpartei Kurdistans (PKK) verbunden sind, weiter zunehmen.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : TROUBLE INSIDE OF THE KURDISH FAMILY – Shingal agreement must be implemented or there will be war, says Yazidi commander
26-03-2021 – Dilan Sirwan – RUDAW – ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The commander of a Yazidi armed force part of the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga forces said on Friday he fears war could break out in the disputed district of Shingal as tensions between the Iraqi army and militias affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) continue to grow.
“The Iraqi side had initially planned for all armed groups to leave the center of Shingal today, however it seems that the time could be extended until April 1,” Haidar Shasho told Rudaw English.
Shasho is commander of Shingal’s Ezidkhan Protection Force, a Yazidi armed group incorporated into the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga forces. If the armed groups do not voluntarily withdraw, he is worried the Iraqi army may use force.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS “AFTER TRUMP” : Upon taking office, President Joe Biden limited the US military’s use of drone strikes against extremist groups outside Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq
US Special Forces at lowest level worldwide since 2001
AFP – 9 Hours 26 March 2021 – US Special Forces deployed around the world are at their lowest level since 2001, their chief, General Richard Clarke, said Thursday in Washington.
“Today, we have nearly 5,000 SOF [special operations forces] deployed to 62 countries,” the Special Forces command chief said in a document released on the sidelines of a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. That is down 15 percent from last year and the lowest number since 2001, the document said.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS SPOTLIGHT : WHY IRAN’S PROXIES FEAR EVIDENCE
by Michael Knights Crisis Response Council March 25, 2021
Iraqi militias value legitimacy and try to portray themselves as acting within the law, so evidence-based approaches can be very effective at reining in those who attack on Tehran’s behalf.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis coined the phrase “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants,” and this is certainly the case when it comes to defeating the blurring tactics used by Iran-backed militias in Iraq. The February 15 rocket attacks on Erbil, a wanton act of vandalism that sprayed 107mm high explosive munitions across a densely populated city near a U.S. base, were followed by a new attack on U.S. forces at Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq on March 3. An Iraqi and a Filipino died in the Erbil strike, which wounded nine others; and a U.S. contractor died at Al-Asad. Kurdish security forces arrested at least two of the perpetrators behind the barrage of rockets that hit Erbil, and then reported he had confessed to undertaking the attack. The militia fighter in Kurdish custody claimed he was recruited by Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, a militia group struck by the U.S. in Syria last week, as a response to its involvement in the attack on Erbil.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS BERICHT : Iraks Jesiden fordern Autonomie, da der Konflikt zwischen Armee, PKK-Mitgliedsverbänden aufflammt
Anhaltende Spannungen aufgrund regionaler Einmischung, um die Zahlen unter den Rivalen zu begleichen, bedrohen neue Gewaltakte und bedrohen die in der Region konzentrierte jesidische Minderheit.
Saman Dawod 20 März 2021 – AL MONITOR – Mehr als 40 jesidische Gemeindeführer aus Sinjar unterzeichneten am 13. März eine Petition, in der sie die Selbstverwaltung in Sinjar, die Aufnahme der Ezidxane Asayish (Sicherheitskräfte von Ezidkhan) in die Sicherheitskräfte und andere Forderungen im Zusammenhang mit Dienstleistungen und Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten forderten. Die Ezidxane Asayish sind die jesidischen Polizeikräfte in Gebieten, die von den Sinjar-Widerstandseinheiten kontrolliert werden, die der Arbeiterpartei Kurdistans (PKK) angeschlossen sind.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS KURDISTAN/IRAQ: Iraq’s Yazidis call for autonomy as conflict flares between army, PKK affiliates
20 March 2021 – Ongoing tensions due to regional interference to settle scores among rivals threaten new acts of violence, menacing the Yazidi minority concentrated in the area.
Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community, who fled violence between Islamic State (IS) group jihadists and peshmerga fighters in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, sit in a field near a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in the Sharya area some 15 kilometers from the northern Iraqi city of Dahuk on May 20, 2015.
Saman Dawod 20 March 2021 AL MONITOR
More than 40 Yazidi community leaders from Sinjar signed a petition on March 13, demanding self-rule in Sinjar, the addition of the Ezidxane Asayish (Security Forces of Ezidkhan) to the security forces, and other demands related to services and job opportunities. The Ezidxane Asayish are the Yazidi police forces in areas controlled by the Sinjar Resistance Units, which are affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS IRAQI / KURDISH OIL REPORT
Iraq’s Parliament passed an much-anticipated amendment to the law structuring Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court.Given the court’s role in Iraq’s electoral process, the new legislation was necessary for the government to move forward with plans to hold national elections this October. Zaid al-Ali, an expert in Iraqi constitutional law, offered helpful analysis of the new amendments and the political wrangling that led up to their passage. “The amendment provides that all existing members [of the court] are to be sent to retirement after new members are chosen,” Ali writes. The new members are supposed to be nominated by “an ad hoc committee made up of the current head of the Supreme Court, the head of the Judicial Council, the public prosecutor, the head of the judicial oversight body, in cooperation with the KRG judicial council,” Ali says, although he notes that the text of the law is confusing about key elements of the selection process. “I’m not sure what parliamentarians think they were voting for,” Ali says, “but this isn’t clear.” Passage of the law also now opens up the legislative calendar, enabling the Parliament to focus on passage of the national budget. As this newsletter goes to print, MPs are telling Iraq Oil Report they are planning to convene for a vote on the 2021 national budget law at 10 a.m. Saturday. If and when there is a vote, Iraq Oil Report will have a story; keep your eyes out. The national budget is the first step toward defining a more sustainable framework for relations between the federal government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), according to Lahur Talabany. Talabany is the co-president of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main parties ruling the KRG, and a strong proponent of finding a workable framework for a strong relationship with Baghdad. In an interview with Iraq Oil Report this week, Talabany said the passage of a 2021 budget law could lead to further negotiations on a number of fronts, including a framework for the KRG oil sector to operate within the structure of a prospective Iraqi National Oil Company. He also discussed a range of issues related to economic development and security dynamics along Kurdistan’s southern border. Read the full interview on Iraq Oil Report. Ninewa province has suffered on multiple fronts in recent years. Not only did the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) militant group inflict violence and depravity on millions of residents during its occupation, but much of the province was destroyed in the ensuing war — and in the aftermath, many areas are now occupied by politicized paramilitary groups. It is also geographically sensitive, containing a long and porous border with Syria and a large band of territory subject to disputes between the KRG and federal government. Iraq Oil Report interviewed Najim al-Jibouri, the governor of Ninewa, in Mosul, shortly before the Pope’s visit to the city earlier this month. Reconstruction efforts can be seen throughout Mosul, with a tangle of new roads and several new bridges linking the banks of the Tigris. But the level of damage remains significant, Jibouri says, especially in rural areas — and in a time of tough financial constraints, Ninewa is low on the list of priorities for the federal government in Baghdad. At the same time, the province has relatively little power to allocate money and attract the kind of investment it needs. For more on the state of Iraq’s second-largest city — and the oil resources in the surrounding territory — read the full interview on Iraq Oil Report. |
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : NEVER FORGET HALABA 16. MARCH 1988 ! / „DER TOD IST EIN MEISTER AUS DEUTSCHLAND!“
Die deutsche Gaslinie – Kontinuitäten
Proliferation von chemischen Massenvernichtungswaffen nach Irak, Syrien & Libyen. Der deutsche Exportweltmeister als Todeshändler. Von Katharina Raudonat – www.mesop.de
Friedhof für die Opfer von Saddams Giftgasangriff aufs irakisch-kurdische Halabja
Am 21. August jährt sich zum ersten Mal der Chemiewaffenangriff des syrischen Regimes auf Gebiete der Opposition in den Vororten von Damaskus. Es wird an diesem Tag nicht an mahnenden Worten fehlen, die das Geschehene unmissverständlich verurteilen. Gerade in Deutschland wird dies auch immer mit den Hinweisen auf die eigne Geschichte geschehen, die im Hinblick auf chemische Waffen eine besondere Verantwortung bedeute. Vermutlich keine Erwähnung wird allerdings finden, das es deutsche Firmen waren, die maßgeblich Assad und andere Despoten der Region mit der Technik und dem Know-How für die Produktion dieser Waffen ausgerüstet haben. Die niederländische Organisation für das Verbot chemischer Waffen, hat seit Herbst 2013 durch Informationen des syrischen Regimes eine detaillierte Liste erstellt, aus der hervorgeht, das deutsche Firmen zwischen 1983 und 1984 in über fünfzig Lieferungen maßgeblich an der Entwicklung des Chemiewaffenprogramms beteiligt waren. Die Bundesregierung, der diese Liste übergeben wurde, weigert sich bis heute die Namen der Firmen zu nennen, mit der Begründung, dass dies für die Firmen Existenzbedrohend sei.
« neuere Artikel / next articles ältere Artikel / previous articles »