KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region — A group of Sunni Arab leaders is calling on Masoud Barzani to authorize Kurdish Peshmerga forces to assist their 1,200-strong force in efforts to rid ISIS from Hawija.
“We do have the Peshmerga and [Kirkuk] suburban police to ask [to assist] in re-controlling Hawija. We hope Hawija is going to be re-controlled. Therefore, we call upon the president of Kurdistan to try to attempt and engage in serious work to liberate it as soon as possible.” Masrour Naji, chief of the al-Jabouri tribe, said to Rudaw after meeting with several other Sunni Arab leaders in Kirkuk on Sunday.
It was reported last month that some 1,200 Sunni tribal fighters have been trained by the Iraqi government to take part in the long-anticipated offensive to recapture the ISIS stronghold of Hawija, about 55 km south of Kirkuk.
“The Sunni people of the area have some opposition to the participation of some of the forces; the Iraqi government to some other. And Kurdistan wants the Peshmerga’s participation. They are all impediments. Removing them is up to the political parties not the Peshmerga,” Rebwar Omer, a Peshmerga commander said.
Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries in southern Kirkuk have prepared three brigades for the Hawija Operation. Under and Iraqi law passed in December 2016, Hashd al-Shaabi is under the umbrella of the Iraqi army and answers to its commander in chief, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
“We will not withdraw since Hashd al-Shaabi is now holding its position like other forces and in this way it fights terror. It is a military force that received votes from the parliament. Therefore, no force could tell us ‘do not participate,” Zaki Mohammed, a Hashd al-Shaabi official, said to Rudaw.
Hawija city lies about 55 kilometers southwest of Kirkuk and is from where deadly October attacks were directed against Kirkuk in which more than 100 people were killed. Hawija has been under ISIS control for more than two years.
Iraqi forces, supported by local Sunni militia, opened a front against ISIS in the Hawija Plains in November 2016.
Kirkuk city and security officials have long complained that the Hawija operation have been delayed with no real justification; thereby underestimating the security of the city.
“More than 75,000 civilians remain trapped in Hawija where they are subjected to severe food and medicine shortages, torture, and ‘crimes of genocide,” the Iraq Security and Humanitarian Monitor in mid-February reported Deputy General of the Arab Council Ismail Hadidi as saying.
