Nearly 150 ISIS attacks in 2020; Erbil and Baghdad yet to agree on joint-security: Peshmerga officia

RBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Peshmerga official said on Sunday that there was no timeline for the resumption of security talks between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal Iraqi government to, among others, confront the so-called Islamic State.
Since its territorial defeat in late 2017, the terrorist organization has continued to stage regular attacks in several areas across Iraq, prominent among them the disputed territories.
There have been several attacks in recent weeks that led to the killings of members of the security forces and civilians.
Members of the Islamic State, according to the official, have been behind 147 separate incidents in territories disputed by the regional and federal governments, based in Erbil and Baghdad, respectively, resulting in 650 casualties.
The Secretary-General of the Peshmerga Ministry, Jabar Yawar, pointed out that the Peshmerga does not currently have a delegation in Baghdad to hold meetings with officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, as the two sides have not set a date for such discussions.


Such gatherings would aim to form committees to jointly administer the security of the disputed territories, which include many cities, towns, districts, and villages stretching from the provinces of Kirkuk and Diyala in the east to Nineveh in the west, near the Syrian border.

Yawar explained that the Kurdistan Region, at this time, has one delegation in Baghdad, working to create a strategic basis for the federal budget for the years of 2021, 2022, and 2023, and KRG's share of it, including that of the Peshmerga.

Joint Security


"The Peshmerga forces and Iraqi Security Forces have two high-level joint committees," Yawar said, noting that the Peshmerga Ministry administers one of them and the federal Defense Ministry's commander of the joint operations in Iraq the second one.

The official added that the Kurdish and Iraqi sides had conducted two meetings in July 2020 to discuss security coordination in the disputed territories, with no deal in sight as of yet.
"Erbil and Baghdad are still in the discussion period, with no agreement regarding coordination and cooperation yet."

Yawar said that the US-led Coalition had affirmed its support for the Peshmerga and Iraqi forces attempts to establish "intelligence, and security cooperation," adding that the best way to ensure a lasting defeat of the terror group is through such measures.

The Peshmerga official also explained that Erbil and Baghdad first introduced the idea of jointly administering the security of the disputed areas in 2009.

The plan, according to Yawar, consists of three phases: establishing a general coordination center between the Peshmerga and Iraqi forces; forming a second coordination center tasked with setting a line of defense in territories witnessing terrorist activities; a third phase would see the two sides carrying out military operations against terrorist groups such as the Islamic State.


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