FROM THE FRONT: 'We are all ready to shed our blood for this land'

By Kurt Nagl, Arina Moradi, Raed Asad Ahmed

KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region – The Peshmerga frontlines that protect the oil-rich city of Kirkuk have been quiet in terms of fighting, but the appearance of peace isn’t fooling anyone.
 
Perched on mounds of dirt dug up from the trenches, the Kurdish fighters here monitor a patchy tree line several dry and dusty kilometers south of their base.
 
“Just beyond those trees is ISIS territory,” an officer said Monday, July 27, as he pointed southwest toward Hawija, an Arab city with nearly half a million people under the control of the Islamic State.
 
Peshmerga ground forces and coalition airstrikes quashed the last major ISIS offensive near Kirkuk in early June. Since then, fighting has been sparse.
 
Still, the attacks, especially the one earlier this year that resulted in dozens of Peshmerga deaths and led to the infamous parading of Peshmerga in cages through the streets of Hawija, has weighed heavily on these fighters’ minds.
 
Their main concern, they say, is strengthening the control they currently have on the land coveted by ISIS.
 
Backhoes and front loaders weave around the camp, expanding trenches and building bunkers, as fighters work to construct brick-and-mortar shelters.
 
“We are preparing our positions for the fall and winter seasons,” said Zerar Awez, a commander on the frontlines. “We are doing our guarding duties as well as building and strengthening our positions.”
 
They protect their land eagerly and with pride, the soldiers said, despite not being paid for their service.
 
Minister of Peshmerga Mustafa Sayid Qadir has maintained that the morale of the Peshmerga has been unwavering and that the financial crisis has not affected their vigor.
 
The strong-spirited Peshermga in Kirkuk seemed to prove his words true.
 
“We are all ready to shed our blood for this land,” said commander Luqman Mohammad Amin. 

“We will stay here until the last of us fall in battle.”