BAGHDAD/IRBIL: Baghdad piled pressure on Iraq’s Kurds on Wednesday, demanding they cancel their vote for independence while Parliament urged the Iraqi central government to send troops to take control of vital oil fields held by Kurdish forces.
Stepping up efforts to isolate autonomous Kurdish-held northern Iraq, which backed secession in a referendum on Monday that angered neighboring countries, Baghdad demanded that foreign governments close their diplomatic missions in the Kurdish capital, Irbil.
The referendum has fueled fears of a new regional conflict. A delegation from Iraq’s armed forces headed to neighboring Iran to coordinate military efforts, apparently as part of retaliatory measures taken by the government in Baghdad following the vote.
Iran and Turkey also oppose any move toward Kurdish secession and their armies have started joint exercises near their borders with Iraqi Kurdistan in recent days. Iraq and Turkey have also held joint military drills.
Foreign airlines began suspending flights to Kurdish airports after the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority said international flights to Irbil and Sulaimaniya would be suspended at 1500 GMT on Tuesday.
Kurdish authorities rejected Baghdad’s demands that they annul the referendum as a condition for dialogue and hand over control of their international airports.
Turkey, which has threatened to impose sanctions on the Kurds, said its border with northern Iraq remained open, although it may not remain so. The number of trucks passing through had however decreased.
Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani announced on Tuesday evening that the “yes” vote had won.
The outcome has caused anger in Baghdad, where Parliament, in a session boycotted by Kurdish lawmakers, asked Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi to send troops to the Kurdish-held region of Kirkuk to take control of its oilfields.
Kurdish Pehsmerga forces took Kirkuk, a multiethnic region, in 2014 when the Iraqi Army fled in the face of Daesh militants who overran about a third of Iraq. The Kurds prevented Kirkuk’s huge oil resources from falling into the militants’ hands.
“The government has to bring back the oilfields of Kirkuk under the control of the Oil Ministry,” the resolution backed by Parliament in Baghdad said.
The area, long claimed by the Kurds, is also home to Turkmen and Arab communities, who opposed the independence vote, although the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) included the area in the referendum.
The US State Department said it was “deeply disappointed” by the decision to conduct the referendum, while the EU regretted that the Kurds had failed to heed its call not to hold the vote.
The Kurds were left without a state of their own when the Ottoman empire crumbled a century ago. Around 30 million are scattered in northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria and Iran.
Baghdad piles pressure on Iraqi Kurds to reverse vote
Baghdad piles pressure on Iraqi Kurds to reverse vote
Hamas official says ‘necessary to reach a ceasefire’ in Gaza
- “This war cannot continue indefinitely, and it is therefore necessary to reach a ceasefire,” Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told AFP
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: A Hamas official told AFP on Tuesday that it was “necessary to reach a ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, three weeks after Israel resumed bombardments on the Palestinian territory.
“This war cannot continue indefinitely, and it is therefore necessary to reach a ceasefire,” Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told AFP, adding that “communication with the mediators is still ongoing” but that “so far, there are no new proposals.”
Iran-backed militias in Iraq ‘ready to disarm’
- They fear threat of US airstrikes
BAGHDAD: Powerful Iran-backed militias in Iraq are ready to disarm to avert the threat of US airstrikes, they said on Tuesday.
The move follows repeated private warnings by US officials to the Iraqi government since Donald Trump took office as US president in January.
They told Baghdad that unless it acted to disband the militias on its soil, America could attack the groups.
“Trump is ready to take the war with us to worse levels, we know that, and we want to avoid such a bad scenario,” said one commander of Kata’ib Hezbollah, the most powerful militia.
BACKGROUND
Militia leaders said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had told them to do whatever they deemed necessary to avoid being drawn into a potentially ruinous conflict with the US.
The others that have offered to lay down their weapons are Nujabaa, Kata’ib Sayyed Al-Shuhada and Ansarullah Al-Awfiyaa.
Militia leaders said their main ally and patron, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, had told them to do whatever they deemed necessary to avoid being drawn into a potentially ruinous conflict with the US.
The militias are part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, about 10 armed factions with about 50,000 fighters and arsenals that include long-range missiles and anti-aircraft weapons.
They are a key pillar of Iran’s network of regional proxy forces, and have carried out dozens of missile and drone attacks on Israel and US forces in Iraq and Syria since the Gaza war began in 2023.
Iraqi security officials said Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani was pressing for disarmament by all militias that declared their allegiance to the Revolutionary Guards or its Quds Force rather than to Baghdad.
Some have already quit their bases and reduced their presence in major cities including Mosul and Anbar for fear of airstrikes.
Pro-Turkiye Syria groups reduce presence in Kurdish area
- Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies carried out an offensive from January to March 2018 targeting Kurdish fighters in the Afrin area
- Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) played a key role in the recapture of the last territory held by the Daesh group in Syria in 2019
DAMASCUS: Pro-Turkiye Syrian groups have scaled down their military presence in a historically Kurdish-majority area of the country’s north which they have controlled since 2018, a Syrian defense ministry official said on Tuesday.
The move follows an agreement signed last month between Syria’s new authorities and Kurdish officials that provides for the return of displaced Kurds, including tens of thousands who fled the Afrin region in 2018.
The pro-Ankara groups have “reduced their military presence and checkpoints” in Afrin, in Aleppo province, the official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Their presence has been “maintained in the region for now,” said the official, adding that authorities wanted to station them in army posts but these had been a regular target of Israeli strikes.
After Islamist-led forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December, the new authorities announced the disbanding of all armed groups and their integration into the new army, a move that should include pro-Turkiye groups who control swathes of northern Syria.
Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies carried out an offensive from January to March 2018 targeting Kurdish fighters in the Afrin area.
The United Nations has estimated that half of the enclave’s 320,000 inhabitants fled during the offensive.
The Kurds and rights groups have accused the pro-Turkiye forces of human rights violations in the area.
Last month, the Kurdish semi-autonomous administration that controls swathes of northern and northeastern Syria struck a deal to integrate its civil and military institutions into those of the central government.
The administration’s de facto army, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), played a key role in the recapture of the last territory held by the Daesh group in Syria in 2019, with backing from a US-led international coalition.
A Kurdish source close to the matter said the people of Afrin were “waiting for all the checkpoints to be removed and for the exit of pro-Turkiye factions.”
Requesting anonymity as the issue is sensitive, the source told AFP that in talks with Damascus, the SDF was pushing for security personnel deployed in Afrin to be from the area.
The SDF is also calling for “international organizations or friendly countries from the international coalition” to supervise collective returns, the source added.
Syria’s new leadership has been seeking to unify the country since the December overthrow of longtime president Bashar Assad after more than 13 years of civil war.
This month, Kurdish fighters withdrew from two neighborhoods of Aleppo as part of the deal.
Syrian Kurdish official Bedran Kurd said on X that the Aleppo city agreement “represents the first phase of a broader plan aimed at ensuring the safe return of the people of Afrin.”
UAE’s foreign minister discusses crisis in Gaza with Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts
- They call for intensified efforts to restore ceasefire agreement, secure the release of hostages, and enhance humanitarian efforts to help the population of the territory
LONDON: The UAE’s foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, discussed the urgent need to resolve the crisis in Gaza during meetings in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday with his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts.
Sheikh Abdullah and Egypt’s minister of foreign affairs, Badr Abdel Ati, emphasized the need for intensified efforts to restore the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and to secure the release of remaining hostages. In addition to the latest developments in the territory, they discussed other matters of regional and international interest.
In a separate meeting, the Emirati minister and Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, talked about the latest developments in the Middle East and ways in which regional stability might be enhanced.
In particular, they reviewed strategies for improving the humanitarian response in Gaza to ensure the urgent, safe and unobstructed delivery of adequate aid to its suffering inhabitants, the Emirates News Agency reported. They also reaffirmed their commitment to continued coordination between their countries on responses to regional crises and challenges.
US trade delegation visits Iraq
- US trade mission to Iraq is the largest in the more than 100-year history of the US Chamber of Commerce
BAGHDAD: A US trade delegation representing 60 companies was visiting Iraq to sign economic cooperation agreements with the private sector, Washington’s embassy in Baghdad said Tuesday.
The three-day visit, which began on Monday, comes amid fears of an international recession after US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on numerous countries, which included 39 percent duties on Iraqi imports.
The US delegation consists of 101 members from 60 companies in the energy, technology and health sectors, who are set to meet with senior Iraqi officials and sign agreements, said an embassy statement.
It is the largest US trade mission to Iraq in the more than 100-year history of the US Chamber of Commerce, the embassy added.
In a post on X, the US mission said that a “pivotal memorandum of understanding to strengthen ties between the US and Iraqi private sectors” was signed on Monday between the US Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce.
“This partnership will foster long-term economic collaboration,” it said.
According to the office of the US trade representative in Iraq, total goods trade with the oil-rich country reached $9.1 billion in 2024, with US exports amounting to $1.7 billion.
US goods imports from Iraq totaled $7.4 billion.
During the visit, Iraq is expected to sign a “landmark agreement” with General Electric to develop a high-efficiency power plant, according to Farhad Alaaldin, foreign policy adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani.
Last year, during Sudani’s visit to Washington, Iraq and the US signed several memoranda of understanding in the energy sector, including one with General Electric to ensure the maintenance of the Iraqi electricity grid.
Iraq’s power plants are currently highly dependent on gas imported from Iran, which provides about a third of its neighbor’s energy needs.
But Tehran has often cut supplies, exacerbating regular power outages.
Baghdad has repeatedly stressed the need to diversify energy sources to reduce its dependence on Iran.
Iraq has been trying to move past decades of war and unrest, including a sectarian struggle after the US-led invasion 2003 toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
