MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : Security vacuum’ between Iraqi, Kurdish forces haven for ISIS: Peshmerga official

The statement came after ISIS fighters attacked a Peshmerga unit from a so-called “security vacuum.”

Hiwa Shilani – KURDISTAN24 – 2 May 2021 – Jamal Eminki, the Chief of Staff of the Peshmerga Forces, speaks to Kurdistan 24, ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Chief of Staff of Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga Forces, Jamal Eminki, said on Saturday that the security vacuum between Kurdish and Iraqi troops remains a haven for ISIS members from where they launch attacks on security forces.

The statement came after ISIS fighters attacked a Peshmerga unit from a region separating Kurdish and Iraqi forces. The so-called security vacuum starts from Khanaqin in Diyala province to the west of the Tigris in Nineveh province, Iminki said.

Eminki told Kurdistan 24 that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has called on the federal Iraqi government “several times” to help end the security vacuum.

He noted that Baghdad “did not take seriously” warnings of the terrorist threat, as a bolstered ISIS “reorganized and increased its activities.”

“The Iraqi side did not give any response to reach an agreement” on joint efforts to combat ISIS, Eminki said.

He explained that the KRG and the Iraqi Defense Ministry have previously agreed to establish four joint security centers between Peshmerga and Iraqi forces. This has yet to be implemented.

Following the emergence of the Islamic State in 2014, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces held their front lines in the areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, preventing sleeper cells from entering their territory despite the terrorist organization controlling adjacent land.

Security in those regions, however, significantly deteriorated after Iraqi forces and Iran-backed Shia militias overran Kirkuk and other disputed territories and drove Kurdish forces out in response to the Kurdistan Region’s September 2017 independence referendum.