ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A joint effort between the Iraqi and the Kurdish governments is the only way to eliminate the resurgence of the Islamic State (ISIS) and limit its activities, an Iraqi military official told Rudaw on Sunday following deadly attacks on Peshmerga forces in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
“The actions of the [Iraqi] federal government alone are not enough, and the Region’s steps alone are not enough. With cooperation, coordination, and joint action between the two parties, ISIS will be eliminated,” Abdul Amir al-Shammari, the deputy commander of Iraqi Joint Operations told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman.
If “each side works alone, and blames the other then ISIS will exploit that and conduct more attacks,” he added.
ISIS activities have seen an increase across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, especially in the disputed territories.
Ten Peshmerga fighters and three civilians were killed on Thursday when the terror group attacked two villages in Erbil’s Makhmour town. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack a day later.
Kurdish officials have widely blamed the recent offensives on the 40-kilometer security gap between the Peshmerga and Iraqi forces, but Shammari claims the attacks occurred in areas controlled by the Peshmerga forces.
“In fact, the cases [attacks] that have [recently] occurred were not in areas disputed between the regional forces and federal forces. These attacks happened in areas that are under the responsibility of the Peshmerga,” he noted while referring to Kifri and Makhmour.
ISIS seized control of swaths of land in Iraq in 2014. It was declared territorially defeated in 2017 but continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.
ISIS has carried out five attacks on the Peshmerga in the past month, killing eight Kurdish soldiers.
Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga Jabar Yawar told Rudaw on Monday the recent ISIS attacks are originating from areas controlled by Iraqi forces.
“I can say that whenever ISIS attacks Peshmerga forces, they come from areas controlled by Iraqi forces, and after they are done, they return to those areas,” Yawar said.
In the wake of the attacks, a high-level security meeting was held between Iraqi and Kurdish forces to ramp up cooperation between the two on Saturday. The Iraqi army and Peshmerga started talks in July to form two joint brigades to counter ISIS remnants but efforts to form these brigades have so far stalled.
In its propaganda magazine, ISIS claimed to have conducted 12 attacks in Iraq from November 25 to December 2, killing and injuring 20 people.
