Kurds vote for regional Parliament as Barzani draws battle lines in fight for Iraq presidency

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Iraqi Kurds show their ink-stained index finger after casting their ballot for the parliamentary election at a polling station in Irbil on Sunday. (AFP)
Updated 01 October 2018
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Kurds vote for regional Parliament as Barzani draws battle lines in fight for Iraq presidency

  • Voters chose from more than 700 candidates to win 111 seats in autonomous Kurdistan’s Parliament, a year after a failed independence referendum to separate from Iraq
  • Under a 2005 gentlemen’s agreement between Iraq’s political forces, the position of president is among the posts held by the Kurds

BAGHDAD: Results from Iraq’s Kurdish election on Sunday are expected to bolster the plans of veteran statesman Massoud Barzani to sweep aside his main rival just days before a push to secure the presidency in Baghdad for his party.

Voters chose from more than 700 candidates to win 111 seats in autonomous Kurdistan’s Parliament, a year after a failed independence referendum to separate from Iraq.

Ever since, Kurdish parties have been deeply divided inside and outside the region. Irbil, the capital of Kurdistan, insisted on conducting the referendum amid the turmoil of Daesh’s demise in the country and despite widespread international and local objections.

The relationship between the two biggest and most powerful Kurdish parties, Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), was severely damaged.

The referendum led to the Iraqi government imposing administrative and financial sanctions on the region to force the Kurdish Regional government to abandon its results. Baghdad launched a military offensive to retake control of disputed areas from Kurdish forces, including the oil hub Kirkuk.

 

Betrayal

KDP leaders accused the PUK of betrayal by abandoning independence efforts after the referendum and siding with Baghdad. They said the PUK’s aim was to thwart KDP efforts to dominate Kurdish politics inside the KRG and in Baghdad. The party refused to fight the Iraqi security forces as they retook Kirkuk and the other disputed areas located outside the constitutional border of the Kurdistan region. 

The regional elections were limited to the four provinces of Irbil, Dohouk, Sulaimaniya and Halabja. Polling closed at 6 p.m. local time and it is not clear when results will be announced. Parties said the turnout was expected to be around 40 percent. No security problems were reported.

Initial signs indicate that the KDP is likely to win the majority of votes after the decline in influence of the PUK. The party had previously received a third of its votes from Kirkuk and the disputed, which were not included in voting this time. 

Ghoran, the third biggest Kurdish party, has also lost much of its strength over the past two years due to the death of its founder, Nushirwan Mustafa, and the dissension of many of its leaders. The party is not expected to win enough seats to play a key role in the regional parliament. The small Islamic Kurdish parties and minorities will have little impact unless they join forces with one of the three main parties.

 

Influence

“Despite all the tremors that the KDP suffered after the referendum, it is still the only party that has maintained the same areas of influence and the same public support,” Yassir Emad, a local Kurdish journalist told Arab News.

“All reports that we got today indicate that the KDP will get the majority of the votes in Dohuk and Irbil, while PUK, Ghoran and the other small parties will share the votes of Sulaimaniya and Halabja.”

The election will determine which party will have the final word in the next regional government. 

The KDP, which has adopted radical policies on Kurdish independence, has led most of Kurdistan’s governments since it was declared an internationally protected zone in 1992.

But the new government may contribute to resolving the outstanding problems with Baghdad.

During campaigning, the KDP’s leaders said they were seeking to achieve a strong majority in the regional Parliament.

“If the party (KDP) achieves great success in the elections, it will undergo major change and reform,” Massoud Barzani, head of the KDP and the most prominent Kurdish leader, said last week during a rally in Sulaimaniya. “There is a lot of talk about rearranging and unifying the Kurdish house. We will continue our efforts in this area, but we cannot unite with those who do not believe what we believe in.”

 

Federal positions

The KDP and PUK have been controlling the Kurds’ share of federal positions in Baghdad since 2003.

Under a 2005 gentlemen’s agreement between Iraq’s political forces, the position of president is among the posts held by the Kurds. The candidate of the PUK has held the office for the last three governments in exchange for the regional president post among others, which were filled by the KDP. 

Both parties are used to resolving their differences in Kurdistan and negotiating with their Shiite and Sunni rivals in Baghdad as a united front, but the situation has completely changed this time as Iraq struggles to build its next government after May elections.

The PUK nominated Barham Salih, the veteran politician, to be their candidate for president. The KDP, however, nominated Fuad Hussein, Barzani’s secretary, for the same post.

The Shiite Reform alliance, sponsored by Muqtada Al-Sadr, and the rival Iran-backed alliance, Al-Binna’a are the only parties that can provide the 210 votes required to win the post. 

Both alliances asked the Kurds to agree on one candidate before going to parliament to avoid the dispersion pf MP’s votes and the rise of a candidate that has not been agreed upon.

Barzani, who gave up his post as head of the Kurdish region last year after the failed referendum, insisted on refusing to elect the president in Baghdad before knowing the results of the regional election, Shiite and Kurdish negotiators told Arab News.

Barzani and KDP leaders have said the post belongs to the Kurds, and whoever represents the Kurdish majority, should be rewarded with the position.

 

Majority’s choice

“This post is for all the people of Kurdistan… and the candidate for the president (post) must represent the majority of the people of Kurdistan,” Masrour Barzani, Massoud’s son and adviser of the Kurdistan Region Security Council, said on Sunday.

“So we believe that the KDP should present its candidate this time for this post … and we hope that all parties will support the majority’s choice.”

Massoud Barzani’s insistence on the post of president for his party and rejection of all other PUK questions, has raised questions about the KDP’s goal, especially as the president has no executive powers and his post is largely ceremonial. “Barzani is looking to crash his Kurdish rivals inside and outside the region, so he is just pressuring the PUK, his biggest rival by using the post (of president) as a tool,” Abdulwahid Tuama, a political analyst, told Arab News.

“The post of president represents the last lifeline of the PUK to continue as a key player in Baghdad and a balancing factor for the forces in Kurdistan.

“If the KDP got the post, then the PUK will gradually evaporate from the scene in Kurdistan as Barzani plans to exclude them from the next regional government and politically terminate them in Baghdad.”


UN chief calls for probe into deaths near Gaza aid site

Updated 02 June 2025
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UN chief calls for probe into deaths near Gaza aid site

  • Antonio Guterres says he is appalled by reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid
  • Israeli gunfire killed at least 31 people and wounded 176 near aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah

GAZA: UN chief Antonio Guterres called Monday for an independent investigation into the killing of dozens of Palestinians near a US-backed aid center in Gaza after rescuers blamed the deaths on Israeli fire and the military denied any involvement.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli gunfire killed at least 31 people and wounded 176 near the aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, with AFP photos showing civilians at the scene carting away bodies and medics at nearby hospitals reporting a deluge of gunshot wound victims.
The Israeli military, however, denied its troops had fired on civilians in or around the center, and both it and the aid site’s administrator accused Hamas of sowing false rumors.
“I am appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza yesterday. It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” Guterres said in a statement, without assigning blame for the deaths.
“I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.”
The Israeli government has cooperated with the group running the site, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), to introduce a new mechanism for distributing aid in Gaza that has bypassed the longstanding UN-led system.
The UN has declined to work with the group out of concerns about its neutrality, with some aid agencies saying it appears designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
An eyewitness from the scene in Rafah, Sameh Hamuda, 33, had told AFP he was headed toward the aid site amid a crowd of other Palestinians when “quadcopter drones opened fire on the people, and tanks started shooting.”
“Several people were killed right in front of me,” he said.
Another witness, Abdullah Barbakh, 58, also told AFP “the army opened fire from drones and tanks.”
Following the reports, the Israeli army said an initial inquiry found its troops “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site.”
Army spokesman Effie Defrin said in a video message that “Hamas is doing its best, its utmost, to stop us from” distributing aid, and vowed to “investigate each one of those allegations” against Israeli troops.
“I urge you not to believe every rumor spread by Hamas,” he added.
GHF also denied any deaths or injuries took place, adding that “these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas.”
Israel has come under increasing international pressure to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza following a more than two-month blockade on aid that was only recently eased.
The UN has warned the entire population of the territory is facing the risk of famine.
It has also reported recent incidents of aid being looted, including by armed individuals.


Talks aimed at securing a ceasefire and the return of hostages taken by Hamas during its October 2023 attack that triggered the war have failed to produce a breakthrough.
Militants took 251 hostages during the attack, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.
After the two sides failed to agree on a new ceasefire proposal last week, Hamas said it was ready to “immediately begin a round of indirect negotiations to reach an agreement on the points of contention.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, said he had told the army “to continue forward in Gaza against all targets, regardless of any negotiations.”
Since a brief truce collapsed in March, Israel has intensified its operations to destroy Hamas.
On Monday, Gaza’s civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said 14 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in Gaza, “including six children and three women, in addition to more than 20 missing individuals still under the rubble.”
“This house has been bombed before... and people were martyred previously,” resident Mousa Al-Bursh told AFP.
“The house primarily belongs to the Al-Bursh family, but it shelters many others, more than one family, and we don’t know the number of victims inside.”
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 4,201 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,470, mostly civilians.
Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.


Nearly 41% of kidney patients died in Gaza as Israel destroys major dialysis center

Updated 02 June 2025
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Nearly 41% of kidney patients died in Gaza as Israel destroys major dialysis center

  • Israeli forces destroyed the Noura Al-Kaabi Dialysis Center in northern Gaza
  • The facility was damaged amid the war and remained standing among the heavily ruined area of Beit Lahiya

LONDON: Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip revealed on Sunday that nearly half of the kidney failure patients in the coastal enclave have died since October 2023 amid ongoing Israeli attacks and restrictions on humanitarian and medical aid.

Israeli attacks on hospitals and medical facilities in Gaza barred 41 percent of kidney patients from accessing life-saving dialysis treatment, resulting in their deaths, according to the Wafa news agency.

On Saturday, Israeli forces destroyed the Noura Al-Kaabi Dialysis Center in northern Gaza, one of the few specialized facilities providing kidney dialysis to 160 patients.

Video footage appears to show Israeli military excavators completely demolishing the facility that was partly damaged amid the war and remained standing among the heavily ruined area of Beit Lahiya.

“The destruction of this center is a catastrophic blow to the health system,” a Palestinian medical source told Wafa, warning of dire consequences for the remaining kidney patients in Gaza.

“This is a disaster with consequences we cannot yet fully comprehend,” they added.


Israeli strike on Gaza kills 14 Palestinians, mostly women and children, hospitals say

Palestinians react at the site of an Israeli strike on a mosque, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, June 2, 2025.
Updated 02 June 2025
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Israeli strike on Gaza kills 14 Palestinians, mostly women and children, hospitals say

  • Shifa and Al-Ahli hospitals confirmed the toll from the strike in the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH: An Israeli strike on a residential building in the Gaza Strip on Monday killed 14 people, mostly women and children, according to health officials.
The Shifa and Al-Ahli hospitals confirmed the toll from the strike in the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, saying five women and seven children were among those killed.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militant group is entrenched in populated areas.
The Israel-Hamas war began when Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Hamas is still holding 58 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s military campaign has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 percent of the population.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pullout.
Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned, and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile. It has said it will maintain control of Gaza indefinitely and facilitate what it refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population.
Palestinians and most of the international community have rejected the resettlement plans, viewing them as forcible expulsion.


Iraq probes fish die-off in southern marshes

Updated 02 June 2025
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Iraq probes fish die-off in southern marshes

NAJAF: Iraqi authorities on Monday launched a probe into a mass die-off of fish in the southern marshlands, the latest in a string of such events in recent years.
One possible cause for the localized die-off could be a shortage of oxygen sparked by low water flow, increased evaporation and rising temperatures fueled by climate change.
Another possible reason could be chemicals used by fishermen to make it easier to catch their prey, local officials and activists told AFP.
AFP images showed large quantities of silver fish floating in the marshlands of Ibn Najm near the southern city of Najaf.
Buffaloes could be seen surrounded by dead fish, trying to cool themselves off in the water.
“We have received several citizens’ complaints,” said chief environmental officer in Najaf, Jamal Abd Zeid, adding that a technical inspection team had been set up.
An AFP photographer at the site saw a team of civil servants collecting water from the marshland.
Among the issues the team was tasked with probing, Abd Zeid said, were a shortage of water, electrical fishing and the use by fishermen of “poisons.”
For at least five years, Iraq has been hit by successive droughts fueled by climate change.
Authorities also blame the construction of dams by neighboring Iran and Turkiye for the drastic drop in flow in Iraq’s rivers.
The destruction of Iraq’s natural environment is only the latest layer of suffering imposed on a country that has endured decades of war and political oppression.
“We need lab tests to determine the exact cause” of the fish die-off, said environmental activist Jassim Assadi.
A lack of oxygen caused by low water flow, heat, evaporation and wind were all possible reasons, he said.
He said agricultural pesticides could also have led to the mass die-off.
Probes into other similar events showed the use of poison in fishing led to mass deaths.
“It is dangerous for public health, as well as for the food chain,” Assadi said.
“Using poison today, then again in a month or two... It’s going to accumulate.”


Medical NGO blames new US aid group for deadly Gaza chaos

Updated 02 June 2025
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Medical NGO blames new US aid group for deadly Gaza chaos

  • Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organizations who have the competence and determination to do it safely and effectively

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories: Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Sunday that people it treated at a Gaza aid site run by a new US-backed organization reported being “shot from all sides” by Israeli forces.
The NGO, known by its French name MSF, blamed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid distribution system for chaos at the scene in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli fire killed 31 Palestinians at the site. Witnesses told AFP the Israeli military had opened fire.
The GHF and Israeli authorities denied any such incident took place but MSF and other medics reported treating crowds of locals with gunshot wounds at the Nasser hospital in the nearby town of Khan Younis.
“Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground,” MSF said in a statement.
MSF emergency coordinator Claire Manera in the statement called the GHF’s system of aid delivery “dehumanizing, dangerous and severely ineffective.”
“It has resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians that could have been prevented. Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organizations who have the competence and determination to do it safely and effectively.”
MSF communications officer Nour Alsaqa in the statement reported hospital corridors filled with patients, mostly men, with “visible gunshot wounds in their limbs.”
MSF quoted one injured man, Mansour Sami Abdi, as describing people fighting over just five pallets of aid.
“They told us to take food — then they fired from every direction,” he said. “This isn’t aid. It’s a lie.”
The Israeli military said an initial inquiry found its troops “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site.”
A GHF spokesperson said: “These fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas,” the Islamic militant group that Israel has vowed to destroy in Gaza.