Iraqi forces coordinate with Peshmerga to restore Hawija

A high-level delegation from Iraqi Ministry met on Friday with the Kurdish Peshmerga’s command in Kirkuk, an informed source said. Speaking to Shafaq News, the source said the two sides agreed on participation of Peshmerga in operations to liberate Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk, and regions in its vicinity.

On Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and the Joint Operations Command announced launch of first phase of operations to liberate Hawija and western Shirqat. However, Lt.Gen.Jabbar Yawar, secretary general of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Peshmerga Ministry, said Peshmerga will not take part in the offensive.

In remarks earlier this month, Yawar denied news circulated in media over military tension between Peshmerga and the federal government over Hawija. Later, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Peshmerga Ministry, Maj.Gen. Qaraman Sheikh Kamal, said Baghdad cannot start the offensive without coordination with Peshmerga.

Kurdistan previously declared intentions to include Hawija within the referendum, slated for September 25. Hawija and other neighboring regions, west of Kirkuk, have been held by IS since mid-2014, when the group emerged to proclaim an Islamic “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria. Other offensives were launched last week at the group’s havens in western Anbar’s borders with Syria.

A member of Iraqi paramilitary troops fighting the Islamic State died Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded northeast of Diyala province, a security source was quoted saying.

A member of the Popular Mobilization Forces died and another sustained injuries when a roadside bomb exploded in their patrol while passing at Sidlan village, Qarra Tabba, northeast of the province, according to the source.

Iraqi government forces, backed by a United States.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, are currently battling Islamic State militants out of their strongholds in Anbar, Kirkuk and Salahuddin provinces, hoping to mark an end to the self-styled “caliphate” the group declared in 2014 from the city of Mosul.

Operations since October 2016 have so far managed to liberate Mosul, the group’s former capital in Iraq, and Tal Afar town, west of Mosul. A wide-scale offensive was launched earlier on Thursday to retake IS holdouts in Salahuddin and Kirkuk, while a parallel one was launched earlier this week targeting havens in western Anbar.

Violence and armed conflicts left 297 Iraqis dead and wounded during the month of ِAugust, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq which excludes security members deaths.

In Baghdad, Two blasts hit areas in south and southeastern Baghdad on Saturday, leaving nine people dead and injured, according to security sources. Baghdad News quoted a security source saying that an explosive device went off near an industrial area in Youssefiya, southeast of Baghdad, leaving five people injured.

Another bomb exploded near a popular market in Nahrawan, south of the capital, leaving one dead and three wounded, the source added. Victims were rushed to hospitals while security teams searched the areas for investigation.

Violence and armed conflicts left 297 Iraqis dead and wounded during the month of ِAugust, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq which excludes security members deaths. Baghdad was the most affected province with 45 deaths and 135 injuries.

On political side, Iraq and the United Nations have reasserted their disapproval of a referendum on Kurdistan independence from Iraq as the autonomous region stands two days from a highly divisive poll.

Meeting in Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and U.N. representative in Iraq, Jan Kubis reiterated their opposition to the vote slated for Monday, reaffirming their eagerness to preserve Iraqi territorial unity.

Kubis highlighted the “United Nation’s clear stance on rejecting the referendum, and the importance of dialogue (as means to end the political crisis)” Abadi’s office said in a statement on Saturday. He also pointed to an “international consensus reflected in the UN Security Council’s statement which expressed its opposition to the unilateral, regionally destabilizing referendum,” Kubis was quoted saying by the PM’s office.

Abadi, on his part, stressed again on the “unconstitutionality” of  the planned referendum, saying that priority should be given to the war on Islamic State militancy and the “liberation of Iraqi territories”. In a statement on Thursday, the UNSC warned of a “potentially destabilizing impact” from the Kurdish vote, adding that the process ““could detract from efforts to ensure the safe, voluntary return of over three million refugees and internally displaced persons,” in Iraq.

Kurdish authorities have recurrently expressed determination to proceed with the vote, saying futile negotiations with Baghdad on matters of dispute left no other choice for the region but to seek secession. Besides Baghdad and the United Nations, the referendum has also drawn disapproval from regional and world powers, most notably the United States, Iran and Turkey.